Oil bulls bet waning US shale boom will curb global glut

New York

HEDGE funds are rooting for a quick collapse of the US shale boom.

Money managers turned the most bullish since May last year as West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed to a five-month high on optimism that falling US production and rising fuel demand will trim the global glut. Investors shrugged off an inventory gain that left supplies at the highest since 1929.

"The market's focused not on current oversupply but on predictions of a balance in the second half of the year," said …