Winter, War, and Whiplash

Distillate pricing now sits almost $.60 more than the first of the month. A dramatic rise fueled by renewed pressure on Iran, Cold covering half the country, a massive east coast storm and a surprise pause in Interest rates.

The US has sent another Carrier group to the Mid-East region in an effort to deter what is being described as an “inhumane crackdown on civil unrest.” Some argue that we should be for the movements, others prefer the devil you know theory. Either way, it will likely include some sort of US involvement. With the cold that has settled in and this past weeks snow storm over much of the East, Natural gas prices spike to over $6 MMBtu, that is double the price from just a day earlier. That sent large users like Power plants scrambling for fuel supply in a market that was showing signs of delivery constraints as the region dug out of two feet of snow. And just as haulers get caught up, another round of snow is in the cards along with cold temps through early next week. The FED surprised many with not making another rate reduction citing “somewhat elevated” inflation data. Prompting yet another increase in Commodity pricing. It been a few weeks of long days and short nights, but this is what we do. Please do not hesitate to reach out if we can assist in any way.