Markets rebounded somewhat today from yesterdays massive slide.
Brent & WTI both closed up 2.7% today (to $62.07 & $55.40, respectively) after each saw the greatest single day slide in over three years on Thursday.
At the close ULSD was up .0373 to $1.8902, RBOB up .0316 to $1.7815 and WTI at $55.40.
So what's going on?
Analysts are accounting today's rally to the idea that yesterday's sell-off was probably more extreme than was warranted, so some of the rebound is simply a re-balancing of sorts.
The other assumption is that the Trade War concerns brought on by yesterday's Presidential tweets and the potential impact of looming tariffs on the economy may have been an overreaction. Time will tell on that one.
Overall it's a little hard to tell whether we are returning to range bound numbers or waiting for another shoe to drop, as a lot of the usual "leading indicators" are mixed.
The US economy expanded 2.1% in the second quarter, which beat analyst predictions - but also fell short of Q1 numbers.The jobs number was up - but not as strong as was hoped, and the unemployment rate is low - but unchanged from prior month. The economy expanded - but manufacturing activity and construction spending fell.
Oil production levels in the US are expected to surpass records, while OPEC cuts production to bolster prices.
Each of the factors we usually consider is somewhat counterbalanced by another.
It will be interesting to see how things begin to shake out.
Stay tuned!
