Funds slash commodity bets by most in 18 months

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Funds reduced bets on rising commodity prices by the most in any week since February 2010 on mounting concern that a weakening global economy will slow demand for raw materials.

In the week ended Aug. 9, speculators cut their net-long positions in 18 commodities by 19 percent to 989,110 futures and options contracts, government data compiled by Bloomberg show. Copper holdings plunged 61 percent, the most since June 2010, and bullish gold bets fell to a five-week low.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slumped 13 percent in the three weeks ended Aug. 11. About $2.3 trillion was erased from U.S. equity values over the period amid Europe’s debt crisis, speculation that the economy is slowing and S&P’s downgrade of the government’s AAA credit rating. The benchmark gauge for U.S. shares dropped to within 11 points of a bear market.

“The shock waves felt through commodities, currencies, stock and bond markets over the last 10 days, that’s the primary driver,” James Dailey, who manages $200 million at TEAM Financial Management LLC, said in a telephone interview from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Aug. 12. Funds reduced holdings on signs “that the global economy is continuing to slow fairly rapidly,” he said.