Month: March 2012

The narrow range, low volume and falling open interest of recent days was punctuated yesterday by some dramatic headlines. News of the possibility that there was a US-UK agreement on the release of strategic reserves sent WTI prices to a low not seen in over three weeks.… Read more

Participants considered a rising dollar and swelling stocks enough to push settlement below 106.00 for the first time in a week. The principal cue was signaled by the Federal Reserve which upgraded its economic outlook, providing foreign exchange traders a window to push the dollar to an 11-month high against the yen and a one-month peak against the euro.… Read more

Favorable US retails sales, and the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave well enough alone were apparently just enough of a salve to participants worried about aggregate demand. From the belly of the beast also came news that German analyst and investor sentiment jumped in March to its highest since June 2010.… Read more

Even though yesterday’s range was 2.18, most price action was confined to a much narrower one during the NYMEX session, where most of the volume is posted. The market has now established another precarious equilibrium as macroeconomic data, events in Europe and the Iran conundrum momentarily balance.… Read more

Positive US jobs data on Friday, was countered by the anxiety of market participants awaiting news from ISDA on whether or not the Greek bond swap would constitute a default It calls to mind the myriad comments by European officialdom over the past two years that it would not come to this.… Read more

WTI has mostly been in positive territory all through the Asian and European sessions. The rationales include one or all of, expectations that non-farm payrolls expanded by 210k or more shows that the US recovery is gaining momentum, Greek debt swap participation suggests the EU debt crisis is stabilizing,Israeli satellite photos and request for bunker busting ordinance from US implies…

The pendulum appears to be swinging back to the positive with a report showing that while unemployment rolls grew a bit, they are staying low enough to suggest that the job market is finding its footing, particularly when viewed against the backdrop of steadily improving month-to-month job growth from November through January.… Read more

Looks like participants fickle focus has fallen on the global economy again and off Iran, for the moment. A round of selling hit most asset classes, starting in the Asian session and continuing into Europe and the US, WTI prices included.… Read more

WTI prices, confined to a 1.92 range managed to finish only .02 higher. Economic data did not favor bulls with China revising its GDP growth target the chief concern, but new factory orders in the US also disappointed. Obviously, the fragile economic picture in the West was offset by ongoing concerns about a possible clash with Iran.… Read more

WTI finished the week down $3.07, the first weekly decline in the last four. This weeks begins with a lot of potential market-moving huddling in the wings. AIPAC is beginning its 2012 policy conference, just as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu arrives in Washington to confer with President Obama about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.… Read more