Energy Market Updates

For many of us who log in to check the market on Sunday evenings at PM, it is often times like Christmas morning to see what the surprise will be. Last night we got a lump of coal to see Commodity futures skyrocketing on news of a Spanish banks receiving a $120 billion dollar bailout. Heating Oil was as high as +.07 at one point. The infusion of cash looks to signal that the Euro will be around for a while longer. As the sun rose, the speculative gains were peeled away and the wheels fell off the cart with about an hour left in the session. Crude finished less $1.40 to close at $82.70, RBOB slipped .0286 to $2.6566 and HEAT fell .0364 to $3.6357, a whopping .11 cents lower than Sunday evening. It appeared that the bullish appointments on the calendar just could not keep the rally going. Next week, Greece has elections, Iran is set to meet with a group of five Nations on its nuclear program with Israel going increasingly impatient and the scheduled FOMC meeting. Many have commented on the limit to the downside in the pits after retracing some 60 cents in the last 50 days. With Europe still not out of the woods, the trend is your friend.

Gasoline futures continued to sell off today after starting the early morning in the green. RBOB was up as much as 2 cents prior to the opening bell on news of Spain having a successful bond sell off to avoid yet another European debt scare. That bullishness turned however as Germany was said to be at odds with other Nations on how to proceed with the European Zone bailout plan. Simultaneously, Moodys was said to be ready to announce a downgrade of France's debt rating that caused the US dollar to push higher. A higher Dollar generally has a negative affect ( or positive affect from some viewpoints) on Commodities. Crude looks to be poised to fall below $100 for some time, getting as low as $101.67 before closing at $102.27, down .40. NatGas inventories were in line with estimates and on a whole remain roughly 700 bcf higher than the 5 year average. Even with the sessions slight bump in HO, finishing up .0069 to $3.1251, we are still roughly .15 less than two weeks ago. RBOB continues to be the dog falling another .0486(almost .25 in two weeks) to $3.1541. While it is nice to see the prices fall, realistically most think another .25 needs to be pulled off to get back to a "normal" state.