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And down we go again - today WTI closed down almost 3% (the final close was 40.74), which is around an 8% loss on the week. Brent came within 2 dollars of a low not seen in over 6 years, and also ended the week at around an 8% loss, according to Reuters.
Crude prices are on track to be down around 5% on the week. There were some initial jumps this morning on hope that the newly announced Chinese Stimulus Package could ramp up demand. Prices reversed sharply and quickly, however, as the dollar continues to crush other currencies, which almost universally sends commodities in general on a slide.
Yesterday we saw Crude jump almost 2% on a weaker dollar and speculations about Russia and OPEC’s upcoming meeting. Today more fuel was added to the fire (no pun intended) and we saw Crude continue to jump, settling out up an additional 4.9% to $48.53/bbl. Going along for the ride, ULSD closed up (+.0632) to 1.6115 and RBOB jumped (+.0509) to 1.4362.
Oil prices continued to tumble early this week - that is until the Wednesday EIA report came out and spiked prices on Crude up 6%. The report showed that Crude stockpiles fell by 2.1mmbbls for the week ending September 11. Additionally, Distillate stocks dropped by 3mmbbl, and gasoline dropped 2.84mmb. That explains Wednesday, when we saw Crude jump up to settle at $47.15 (Tuesday's close was $44), ULSD jumped .0414 to $1.5414, and RBOB jumped .0492 to $1.3821 (it could have been worse - intraday highs were over 5 up on diesel and 6 up on gas!).
CRUDE, ULSD, and RBOB are all trending downwards today in tandem with the Stock Market, after a less-than-robust Jobs Report out this morning. The report showed that the US added 173,000 jobs in August, a relatively far cry from the 220,000 anticipated (hoped for?) by the markets and economists.
WTI crashed below the $40 level this afternoon in trading, and clung right to the $40 line at the close, settling at $40.45. (ULSD was off -.0556 to $1.4624, and RBOB dropped -.0143 to $1.5449)
Oil prices are continuing their tumble - and it doesn't look likely they'll rebound in any significant way any time soon.
This morning Brent Crude dropped under $50 for the first time in 6 months, and WTI fell below $45/bbl to within $2 of a 6 year low. Shortly after noon, the NYMEX showed ULSD down .0452 cents, and gas down almost 9 (-.0882).
Quick note on the news this week - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died yesterday, temporarily rattling the markets.