Category: Oil Pricing

The mega-decision by the Federal Reserve overshadowed bearish fundamentals for crude oil, yesterday. The weekly inventory report showed large inventory builds in all three major categories, crude, gasoline and heating oil. The report also showed that refiners are running at elevated rates for recent times, above 90%, which is hitting up against demand that continues to wane.… Read more

It is a busy news morning for the oil market. Among the items, comments from the sidelines of OPEC indicate a deal to rollover the current quota scheme, even though Iran and Algeria are bemoaning overproduction of the group. The IEA has increases its oil demand outlook for next year, citing a rebound in China’s economic prospects.… Read more

Oil prices continue to cover the same ground, up and down, but there appears to be more down than up, in terms of price action and sentiment. China posted a mixed data set over the weekend that allowed one to pick among them to construct a bullish or bearish scenario from the China effect.… Read more

Oil receded further from resistance, now set at Monday’s 90.33 high. But even though prices dipped to a 87.57 low, bias will stay neutral. There market is still contained by resistance around 89.20-89.30, if breached it will move to the next target at the new high of 90.33; meanwhile a support is seen at 88.50 which if breached could open a path to the next downside target of 87.60.… Read more

Strength in the early going yesterday suggested that market participants were drawing a measure of solace from ongoing fiscal negotiations in Washington and Brussels. But those hopes were short lived after yesterday’s NYMEX open ushered in session long selling that pushed prices back to an 89.09 settlement.… Read more

The financial media added to the lexicon with another laughable oversimplification of price action, characterizing movement as “cliff-on/cliff-off”. While initial post-election commentary showed some hope for resolution, subsequent statements from policymakers do not show much movement off positions staked out during the election.… Read more

Momentary optimism is ruling participants’ thinking so far this session, but global economy is still sending out stark warning. For one, and particularly troubling, is signs that the economic powerhouse that is supposed to carry the EU out of its morass, Germany, is heading into recession, while Japan is faring no better.… Read more

Prices are naturally swinging with sentiment on whether or not fiscal crisis can be averted in both Europe and the US. President Obama and Speaker Boehner both staked out their territory yesterday, but the commentary did not seem much removed from either campaign stance.… Read more

Successive headlines are trumpeting that a deal has been reached on Greece and the Spanish banks. Unfortunately, this has not been received as the panacea previous deals were in the subsequent price action. This skepticism will now be reflected in the focus on the negotiations over the US fiscal cliff.;… Read more

Policymakers toiling over the European fiscal conundrum appear to have reached an agreement over the main trouble spot: Greece. This latest palliative will not be the last for the beleaguered country. Similarly, most assessments of the looming fiscal deadline in the US, conclude with interim relief well short of a comprehensive resolution.… Read more