By the Numbers:
Monday marked the 7th straight session oil futures dropped, which is the longest we had seen since December of 2009. Tuesday accelerated the drop off, with ULSD closing down -.0409 and RBOB dropping -.0161 to 2.9729.
This morning it appeared US Crude may erase some of the drop off over Israeli/Hamas fighting that has erupted this week, but the downward trend has continued - albeit less rapidly. ULSD closed off 25 points to 2.8711 and RBOB closed down -.0352 to 2.9377
Whats Going On:
The spikes we saw in June mainly stemmed from concerns about the Iraqi/ISIS conflict and subsequent fears of interrupted supply. So far though, exports from Iraq have remained stable and uninterrupted, which has let prices ease off. Even European Brent Crude has gone back to pre-Iraqi tension levels.
Also - remember those Libyan ports that were seized by rebels last July and have remained offline since? Well it looks like they will finally be coming back online, which could up Libyan exports by up to 800,000 barrels per day. The caveat here though, is prior discussions on moving Libyan exports back up have fallen through, so theres no guarantee on what production levels they'll actually hit.
What to Watch For:
The potential storm cloud on the horizon is the Israel vs. Hamas situation unfolding. Palestinian officials are reporting over 35 killed and 300+ wounded in Gaza as a result of Israeli airstrikes. The strikes have reportedly hit over 450 locations in Gaza, while Hamas has launched rockets far deeper into Israel than before - hitting tech centers, Tel Aviv and northern counties. Israel is reporting that since Monday afternoon, over 200 rockets have been fired at the country, in addition to over 50 that were shot down by drones before impact.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has reached out to the UN & US to condemn the Palestinian action, while some newspapers are reporting that Palestinian President Abbas has reached out to the Egyptian President to moderate discussions for a cease fire.
The situation arose from three Israeli teens being kidnapped and murdered last week - which Israel blames Hamas for, and the subsequent murder of a Palestinian teen, which Hamas claims was retaliatory action by the Israelis.
As we've seen a thousand times before - violence escalation in the Middle East almost always causes fear based price increases. Luckily, we saw no such movement today, as the market continued decline. Markets aside, hopefully the situation comes to some sort of resolution soon - preferably a long standing agreement that will stop the unecessary violence in the area.