Energy Market Updates
Posts about:
Ghaddafi
Markets Jump Higher After Long Weekend
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.
Markets find strength ahead of Spring storm
With what appears to be a cruel joke by Mother Nature, sending us another 6 to 12 inches of snow for Friday, markets got the fuel they needed to push higher today. While the winter weather may be a simple coincidence, the real driver today appears to the ongoing unrest in Libya. After the President adressed the Nation Monday night, and all but assured us that NATO forces would take command and ground troops would not be committed, that plan is begining to look suspect. Over the last few days, Rebel forces have made little if any ground against the Gaddafi regime. Their reliance upon US and NATO air strikes to make any advances has put their chances of an overthrow in jeapordy. This, even on the heels of a long time supporter of Gaddafi defecting. Overnight the Lybian Foriegn Minister sought refuge, signaling to the West that the power appears to be fracturing. However, with the President authorizing use of covert operations, many point to this as the first step in a drawn out conflict. With Lybian product shut in, and Japaneese demand expected to pick up, we cant be all that surprised to see the bumps. The key will be in how long it will take for the jump to be peeled off. Speculative money appears in control for the time being and the slight drop in jobless claims is not facilitating a sell off by any means. At the close, Crude rose $2.45 to $106.72, RBOB jumped .0436 to $$3.1076 and HEAT led the charge adding .0502 to $3.0898.