Energy Market Updates

Bears were out in full force today (actually saw them hit after the close on Monday) as all eyes were watching election results in Italy.  No clear cut winner has been announced thus casting doubt and uncertainty on recently passed austerity measures.   The effect saw the US Dollar rise against the World basket forcing Commodities to fall harder than Tom Brady's Agents Commission check.  Adding to the sell off was increasingly better news from the housing market with December values showing a .2% increase and 6.8% increase year on year.  All this and as I walked into a lunch saw Fed Chief Bernanke on a big screen TV saying the economy is far better off than in recent years and that the FED is currently looking at ways to end its quantitative easing policies.  Today had a flurry of news to push pricing down, but I still hang my hat on  the saying "high prices is the cure for high prices"  as we exit the heating season in the Northeast and some retail stations above $4.00 a  gallon,  some would say the US economy would struggle to support these energy costs.  At the close, Crude lost .48 to $92.63, HEAT fell .0672 to $3.0317 and RBOB tumbled .0795 to $2.9816. 

The NYMEX continued strong gains as most early risers thought we would see a reversal of yesterdays spike. At 5 am, RBOB was down almost .03 and HO was down about a penny. It had me thinking that yesterdays reaction to the Hess announcement that it was closing their New Jersey refinery was somewhat overdone. But as the rest of the world woke up, and saw the Dollar struggling, Futures made an about face at the open. While consumer confidence was reported to be at the lowest levels since late 2011 (maybe an effect of Americans seeing less in their checks this month), Home values were reported to see roughly a 5.5% increase in values year on year. Back to the notion of a gasoline shortage, with there being only two major refineries to serve the Eastcoast, it is easy to see how some can predict a long term crunch. My hunch is higher prices will solve that problem eventually. Still, HO has risen above the top end of the range we have been stuck in since October, closing up .0476 to 3.1092, RBOB added.0386 to 2.9734 and Crude gained $1.13 to $97.57. All ahead of the relatively tropical forecast for the next two days. (shown below)

Most pundits have been warning of upside breakout potential with this market for the last several sessions. When you really look at HO for the last four months, the defined range of 2.95 to 3.05 has held, with conviction. As much as I try to disprove the techies with fundamental basics, I am batting roughly .146 since October. That's a slump!

Overnight trading set the tone for much of todays session as early markets were up well over two cents on both products. News out of European Markets showed that Greece's credit rating had been upgraded along with an unexpected increase in the consumer confidence among Germans had pushed the US dollar lower. Commodities were the unfortunate collateral damage in this scenario. More importantly, it appears that some movement by GOP leaders to increase taxes on those Americans making over $1 million a year (Phew, I'm safe!) has been seen as a major concession in the stalled talks. Again, Bullish on Commodities. Lastly, the DOE's released the weekly numbers that showed draws in distillates and Crude, -1.1mbl and 949k respectively, with a modest build in gasolines, +2.2mbl. The report was viewed as Bullish by most even with Crude missing the expectations of a 1.3mbl draw, evidence of the mentality of the day already given up to higher prices. Look for action to continue higher as a historical light trading week winds down and HO stays well within the 2.90 to 3.10 range we have been in for the last 90 days. At the close, Crude gained $1.58 to $89.51, Heat added .0391 to $3.0356 and RBOB led gaining .0522 to $3.7431.

Once again the NYMEX started off the session well into positive territory with a strong Sunday night open. Much of the gains were attributed to Chinese data released Sunday that showed its Industrial Output rose year over year, signaling stronger demand. But as the day wore on, continued worries about Europe, as the Italian Prime Minister abruptly resigned, appeared to be entering into Traders minds. That fear turned inward as the real concern centers around US distillate demand. Its Common knowledge that inventory levels of distillates are on the very low end of the range, so in the minds of most, the lack of demand is overshadowing the lack of product. Others point that this is just the season to book some profits as traders square up the quarter. I'm pleasantly surprised that we have maintained HO below the $2.95 level, a clear level of support is difficult to define at this time. At the close, Crude fell .37 to $85.56, RBOB was up only 7 points to $2.5981 and HEAT led the charge lower falling .0191 to $2.8962.

Almost two weeks after Superstorm Sandy slammed the East Coast, Massachusetts fuel distributor Dennis K. Burke, Inc. continues sending fuel and resources to assist in FEMA relief efforts in the storm devastated areas of New York and New Jersey.

As New England starts preparing for Hurricane Sandy’s expected landfall, don’t forget to make sure your generator is ready for the impact.  The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) is predicting significant impacts to Massachusetts from the storm including downed powerlines, associated blackouts, and coastal flooding. (If you remember, in 2011, thousands of Mass residents went without power for several days after a freak October storm that downed powerlines.)  Experts are predicting up to a billion dollars of damage could result from the storm – to put that in perspective, “The Perfect Storm” that hit the East Coast in 1991 caused 200 million in damages.

Don’t roll the dice on this happening to you or your business.  A fueled up, properly operating generator is absolutely essential to ensure staff safety, protect crucial computer data, and keep your business’ critical operations from grinding to a halt.