Trading ranges were narrow, volatility suffered, and liquidity dried up – all the hallmarks of a semi-functional market. There were 541 million bbls of Brent futures that changed hands yesterday. This compares with 784 million bbls on Wednesday or 911 million bbls on Tuesday. Whilst the US was busy giving thanks at home and its [...]
US traders had clearly thought long and hard about the oil market on Thanksgiving and concluded that prices are unjustifiably high, maybe due to the rising tension between the US and China because of the Hong Kong protests. Or they might have been disappointed with the lack of real upside progress on Thursday and Friday [...]
The last 30 minutes of trading breathed some life into an otherwise uneventful trading session yesterday. The belief in a positive trade deal continues unabated and all that was needed for a good 60 cents/bbl rally towards the close was some warm words from the US President. Donald Trump said that the US was in [...]
The current consensus is that the OPEC+ supply agreement will be rolled over for at least three months at the group’s next meeting with special emphasis on stricter compliance. It would help a great deal to balance global oil inventories next year. This prevents oil prices from falling. There is still a great amount of [...]
There were two significant developments last week that shaped oil prices. The first one is that the picture has started to emerge as what to expect when oil ministers from OPEC and the ten non-OPEC countries meet next week in Vienna to discuss the way forward. The second one is the “ccc” (complex, complicated and [...]
It was only 3-4 days ago but the slump in oil prices at the beginning of the week has speedily been erased from memory. Bulls have fought back with vengeance and currently they seem to be in control of their own destiny. Yesterday’s price action suggests that speculative buying interest is being coupled with some [...]
As the oil market strengthened yesterday pre-EIA, after the slump on Tuesday, the result of an old survey popped into mind. The majority of the respondents thought that a country, where illiteracy is STILL 4% should be ashamed of itself. Well over half of another group surveyed was convinced that a country, where literacy has [...]
After a positive week oil prices fell for the second consecutive day yesterday. The jury is very much out whether a top was found last Friday and/or Monday, or this is just a temporary, albeit sharp, downside correction. Whatever the case may be the current weakness can be attributed to three developments (or the lack [...]
When the market makes a relatively significant move without any obvious or tangible reason, it is always convenient to conclude that the price action was technical-driven. Probably this is what happened yesterday as both WTI and Brent shied away from last Friday’s high and ultimately finished the day in the red. It is tempting to [...]
What should you think when Brent and WTI settle at their highest levels for nearly two months? Or when the major US stock indices are making fresh record highs and settlements almost on a daily basis? When not only US indices but also the MSCI Global Equity Index rallies and closes at levels never seen [...]
