Caught short

CRUDE oil prices surged on Monday as a squeeze on short positions in New York triggered an intra-day rise of $16/b. The spike in the afternoon session on Nymex was the largest dollar gain and second-highest percentage rise ever seen on the board, and left the front-month contract at almost $121/b. On Tuesday afternoon in London, Brent had softened to just over $103/b, while in the morning session in New York the price was around $107/b.