Energy Market Updates

Markets find strength ahead of Spring storm

With what appears to be a cruel joke by Mother Nature, sending us another 6 to 12 inches of snow for Friday, markets got the fuel they needed to push higher today.  While the winter weather may be a simple coincidence, the real driver today appears to the ongoing unrest in Libya.  After the President adressed the Nation Monday night, and all but assured us that NATO forces would take command and ground troops would not be committed, that plan is begining to look suspect.  Over the last few days, Rebel forces have made little if any ground against the Gaddafi regime.  Their reliance upon US and NATO air strikes to make any advances has put their chances of an overthrow in jeapordy.  This, even on the heels of a long time supporter of Gaddafi defecting.  Overnight the Lybian Foriegn Minister sought refuge, signaling to the West that the power appears to be fracturing.  However, with the President authorizing use of covert operations, many point to this as the first step in a drawn out conflict.  With Lybian product shut in, and Japaneese demand expected to pick up, we cant be all that surprised to see the bumps.  The key will be in how long it will take for the jump to be peeled off.  Speculative money appears in control for the time being and the slight drop in jobless claims is not facilitating a sell off by any means.  At the close, Crude rose $2.45 to $106.72, RBOB jumped .0436 to $$3.1076 and HEAT led the charge adding .0502 to $3.0898.
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Rally pushes on as strife continues

Futures soared higher again today as all eyes continue to be focused on the Mid East and Northern African Nations and the wave of civil unrest that has gripped that region.

Only a week ago it appeared that the Libyan crisis was cooling with a possible quick exit by its Leader. That was 7 days and 25 cents ago….  As Iran has been said to clamp down and imprison opposition leaders and with Algerian news outlets reporting some growing protest, the main fear is that demand will outpace the supply. With the Saudi’s announcing they will foot the bill for any excess barrels left on the table, who wouldn’t want to be investing in Saudi Arabian refineries right now! Crude goes up $2.66 today to $99.63, jackpot! From the “ No Duh” file, FED chairman Bernanke spoke today and did little for the cause as he declared rising commodity prices would hurt the economy, but not produce massive inflation. More likely a short term rise in consumer gas prices.

With Funds bow controlling roughly 23% of the long positions in the Market; it will be interesting to see where the selling will start, and yes, it will happen. It was interesting to note that a gasoline demand report by Mastercard showed a 3% increase in demand last week, but some of that can be attributed to panic buying as consumers tried to beat the next price increase.

At the close, HEAT jumped .0846 to $3.0235 and RBOB soared .0907 to 2.9834. Let’s hope to find some relief in Wednesday’s DOE report.

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