Energy Market Updates

Last week we mentioned that it was going to be a sloppy back and forth week if a debt ceiling resolution was not passed.  As shown below, that was exactly what materialized.  Starting the week, HEAT was at 3.1280 and finished today at 3.0962 with all sorts of gyrations in between.  As traders are not willing to commit either way as a resolution  still looms and a tropical storm hitting the gulf region, it was somewhat surprising to see the market fall off as much as it did mid session.  Both products were down as much as 4 cents on the heals of GDP data being released which showed the economy was basically flat.  Furthermore, it notes that the recession  was deeper than first thought and the economy is obviously growing at a much slower rate.  There is growing sentiment that we will begin to encounter demand destruction at a growing rate if prices do not ease relatively quickly. At the close Crude fell $1.74 to $95.70, RBOB lost .0047 to $3.1129 and HEAT fell .0090 to $3.0962. This weekend will be critical as to how the Markets will shake out for the next few months, as a resolution should see lower prices

Crude once again danced above the $100 a barrel mark today as many speculated that the economy is showing signs of improving.  Furthermore a marathon meeting session on Greece of European Leaders ended with a consensus that they will throw more money into the debt strapped country.  The Euro rose on the news as the dollar fell, thus pushing money into Crude.  The products failed to follow the rally.  RBOB slipped .0475 to $3.0995 while HEAT lost .0192 to $3.0992.  All while Crude managed to gain .73 to close at $99.13, more than a full buck off its high of $100.16.  Holding down products appear to be the fact that demand is still soft, and retail gas stations are still in the high $3 range.  Additionally, our friends at the IEA stated that they are willing to release more product to the market to stave off any spike in futures.  HEAT remains in a congested selling pattern and looking back over the last few months, you have seen healthy corrections after these periods.  In laymen terms, nobody is willing to make a move either way until an event pushes us too.  This event will likely be in the form of how the US debt ceiling issue is resolved, meaning we probably have another week of sloppy back and forth days

If you were to ask me two weeks ago if I thought the HEAT pit would rebound 30 cents after falling 45, I would say its about as likely as a tornado in Massachusetts....  And so here we are!   With what has been an almost two week rally, todays moves looked to be a reaction to the indecisiveness of OPEC.  For that last few years, OPEC has lost much of their mojo and most discounted their pumping policies and mandates as rhetoric.  As with any slow news day, people needed something to jump onto and the report that OPEC was doing nothing had bulls run the table.  That coupled with the DOE report of Crude having a 4.8mbl draw simple let the gates open for a decisively higher session.  Jobless claims increase slightly last week still signaling a troubled economy.  Even the Natgas report that showed an unexpected injection of 80bcf could not derail the upside.  While many see the last several sessions as technical buy backs, it is difficult to maintain the notion that better days are to come as we pop 3 or 4 cents higher everyday.  At the close, Crude maintained above $100 and settled up $1.19 to $101.93, HEAT rose .0441 to $3.1378 and RBOB jumped .0611 to $3.0398.

Dennis K Burke is excited to be an exhibitor at this years NEFI Expo and Energy Summit June 7^th and 8^th at Boston’s Hynes Convention Center.

What a difference a week makes!  less than a week ago were were talking about HEAT testing some key support levels, but after today, those might be to far to see in the rear view mirror.  The pits have jumped some 20 cents in the last five sessions.  While yesterdays electronic trading seemed to bear some positive tones as most of the session was down almost 2 cents, waking up this morning saw the market up over 4 and Crude up over a dollar.  The second round of bailout money for Greece appears to be in the works as Germany is conceding. Over the weekend, a NATO commander stated his forces were making significant strides against the Gaddafi regime and guaranteed his removal in the next few months.  On the homefront, a pipeline leak in the Kansas City area that originates in Canada forced that line down for the second time in a week.  The key detail in that report is that the pipeline ends up in Cushing, Oklahoma, a key yardstick for National Inventory numbers.  The fear pushed values higher and stayed there the remainder of the day with Crude now healthily over $100 to close up $2.11 to $102.70, front month RBOB added .0584 to $3.1504, while JUL RBOB was up only .0190.  HEAT finished higher by .0658 to $3.0563, JUL HEAT added .0516 to $3.0530.   HEAT is currently at the top end of the recent range of 2.80 to 3.05,  one would expect to see some profit taking over the next couple of days.