Oil sinks again, but market tries to draw line at $60 a barrel
The crude oil market looks as if it’s trying to make a stand at the $60-a-barrel level, raising questions about how much lower gasoline prices might go. Near-term oil futures fell ... materials. The price then bounced up to $63 by 11 a.m. PST, only to fall back again. Futures ended [more...]
Date: 2008-11-06 21:08:58
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The Best of 2008: A year not to be forgotten
It’s the end of 2008 and many traders are saying “Good ridance!” To them I say be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it ... R? Understanding Open Interest in Futures and Options Trading Crude Oil Prices and the Economic Stimulus ... in the markets. Now, of course, the complaint is about too much. Funny how the pendulum swings like that, [more...]
Date: 2008-12-31 13:54:33
Despite recent price rise, traders seeking tankers is bearish for oil
Filed under: International markets, Commodities, OilThose investors ready to position themselves in oil stocks, or perhaps even dabble in oil futures, may want to wait a while. Oil traders are seeking ... ." Dietz added that he was currently short unleaded gasoline, with a monthly contract. Continue reading [more...]
Date: 2009-01-07 18:45:00
Free Fall: Oil Price Plummets to Near $63
Even after taking the weekend to digest OPEC’s announced production cut Friday, oil markets aren’t impressed. Crude oil futures kept falling Monday, approaching $63 a barrel and marking their lowest prices ... . “Fear is the word,” one broker told Bloomberg. [more...]
Date: 2008-10-27 16:36:41
The gas legislation we pass
By Kate Sheppard The House of Representatives took up a triumvirate of environment and energy-related bills today, ... Futures Trading Commission to exert tougher oversight of the oil futures markets. In a 402-19 vote ... or unreasonable fluctuations" in energy futures prices and trading activities that "prevent [more...]
Date: 2008-06-27 00:13:20
SPECULATORS ARE NOT DRIVING UP OIL PRICES, REPORT SAYS
As Congress debates how to curtail the role of speculators and rein in rising oil prices, ... report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with help from six other agencies, including ... offer investors a future return linked to commodity markets, were roughly balanced between purchases [more...]
Date: 2008-07-25 13:21:56
Falling Down: Enviros Shouldn?t Sweat Lower Oil Prices
Falling oil prices generally aren’t good news for environmentalists ... question is how far oil can fall, and if that will be enough. Crude futures dropped below $90 a barrel ... to get cash to speculate in oil, or any other commodities market. OPEC president Chakib Khelil said [more...]
Date: 2008-10-06 19:55:00
'60 Minutes': Did speculation fuel oil price?
There was an excellent item last night on 60 Minutes about the role speculators played in the oil price spike this summer ... problem was a result of the commodities markets being "invaded by a new breed of investor." "Approximately 60 to 70 percent of the oil contracts in the futures markets are now held by speculative [more...]
Date: 2009-01-12 06:26:00
Jim Wyckoff’s Morning Blog–Tuesday
Tuesday, January 6–Jim Wyckoff’s Morning Web Log OVERNIGHT/EARLY MORNING DEVELOPMENTS The market feature in overnight/early morning trading today is a stronger U.S. dollar and firmer crude oil futures prices that have pushed back ... , the U.S. T-Bond market has suffered serious near-term technical damage to now suggest that a major [more...]
Date: 2009-01-06 13:13:28
Oil rises above $58 on heating oil, gas futures
Light, sweet crude for December delivery gained 60 cents to $58.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultants Ritterbusch and Associates, said oil prices have been driven recently by equity and currency markets, but it appears some fundamentals are now driving price movement [more...]
Date: 2008-11-17 19:10:24
CFTC Report on High Oil Prices - "Speculation My A$$"
With a pending Senate vote on the "Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act", it seems that we (not the TOD 'we', but the collective society 'we') ... . In this report, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), threw cold water on the recent ... , activity on the crude oil futures market – as measured by the number of contracts outstanding, trading [more...]
Date: 2008-07-23 14:47:59
Crude Reaction: Oil Prices Fall on Dismal U.S. Growth
The oil market took a look at U.S. growth figures and decided they weren’t just ugly—they were a double-bagger. [ Bagger_art_200v_20081030130104 ... .jpg You’ve got company (AP) Crude futures, which had risen for two days on the back ... anytime soon,” said Phil Flynn, senior trader at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. “After yesterday’ [more...]
Date: 2008-10-30 08:03:00
The case for oil price speculation improves
U.C. San Diego economist Jim Hamilton has long argued that fundamental forces of supply and demand explain oil prices better than "speculation ... by David Cho, "A Few Speculators Dominate Vast Market for Oil Trading." Hamilton closed his dissection ... recently deemed by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to be more of a speculator than [more...]
Date: 2008-08-27 16:28:48
Merrill’s Three ‘C’s for the Market
Could declining commodity prices be a major theme for the markets in the third quarter? Crude-oil futures are dropping like a stone this morning amid a strengthening dollar ... futures dropped as well, tumbling more than $12 to around $921 an ounce in recent Comex trading [more...]
Date: 2008-07-07 14:41:09
U.S Market Update
- Equity markets have begun the week in positive territory, helped by declining commodity prices. Oil futures have shed about $4/bbl and gold has fallen this morning as the dollar has firmed ... % in Chicago led by Wheat while August natural gas is off close to 5% despite the formulation [more...]
Date: 2008-07-07 15:35:29
OPEC's Actions Irrelevant for Now
By Markos N. Kaminis - Economy & Markets:Visit the front pages of Wall Street Greek and Market Moving News to see our current coverage of economic ... $40.50 on the WTI futures contract for January deliver, the price of crude oil at the hour ... a relatively significant action from the consortium, but as crude oil prices moved curiously counter [more...]
Date: 2008-12-17 21:45:00
Overnight markets: Down
Asian stocks and US futures slid Thursday, following US and European markets down amid fresh fears that worldwide bank rescue programmes have come too late. Crude oil prices fell to 13-month lows as commodities prices tumbled across the board. US markets (Wed) DJIA down 733.08 at 8,577.91 Nasdaq... [more...]
Date: 2008-10-16 04:44:46
Daily Forex Overview
Previous session overview On Monday, the dollar declined across the board Monday, taking its cue from a drop in U.S. stock markets as financial shares sold off. The dollar was also feeling the heat from oil prices that crept back up toward USD125 a barrel on futures markets, indicating that any measurable relief [more...]
Date: 2008-07-29 07:20:34
How Did The Price of Oil Get So High? And Why Is It Now So Low? The "Enron Loophole"
.fullpost{display:inline;}It's beginning to look like we've reached the bottom as far as gas prices go ... markets and run up energy prices. Olbermann called it "a legalized form of insider trading" which "lets speculators overwhelm trading in oil futures." The result? A huge increase in your energy [more...]
Date: 2008-11-29 17:39:00
Remember Last Week When I Commented On How the Price of Oil in the Futures Market fell After the Lifting of the Exectuive Ban on Off-Shore Drilling?
Posted by WLS: If you have forgotten you can read it again here ... their rivals, thereby creating a mini-price war, as they sacrafice a few cents a gallon in order to increase [more...]
Date: 2008-07-24 01:35:17
Oil's Well That Ends Well
Well, no shit Sherlock speculation drove up the price of oil to obscene levels, as did the nonsense of "peak oil ... the commodities futures market. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, it's traded alongside cotton [more...]
Date: 2009-01-12 02:34:00
Did Airlines Help to Stop Oil Speculation?
The January 6 ATA SmartBrief (a free newsletter that is well worth subscribing to) ... in the prices of agricultural commodities as well? May also writes that “with nearly 90 organizations ... , speculative money started flowing rapidly out of the oil futures market.” This effect isn’t necessarily [more...]
Date: 2009-01-08 07:13:47
Are Speculators Really That Bad for Commodities Markets? (pfblogs.org)
David Enke submits: Commodity index investors (ie, speculators) sold $39 billion worth of crude oil futures between the July market peaks and September 2nd, a time that saw a rapid sell-off in crude oil prices (see Independent.iearticle).Complete Story » ... [more...]
Date: 2008-09-12 11:41:59
Oil Prices and Speculation
The Washington Post says the scale of speculative activity in commodities markets is larger than previous estimates indicated: A Few Speculators Dominate Vast Market for Oil Trading, by David Cho, Washington Post ... helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses. But when the Commodity Futures [more...]
Date: 2008-08-21 07:42:00
Alan Knowles, Haywood Securities: Finding that Elusive Bottom
Source: The Energy Report Haywood Senior Oil and Gas Analyst Alan Knowles says we haven’t seen a bottom yet, ... that are $45 today were $148 last summer, so while the futures indicate current market sentiment, they are not the best indicator of future prices. The contract that we’re talking about right [more...]
Date: 2009-01-05 15:31:26
Mika: Offshore Drilling Wouldn't Lower Gas Prices for Ten Years
Mika Brzezinski might be an Obama backer, but she really should sit down with Hillary Clinton. The woman who turned $1,000 into $100,000 could clue her in to the workings of the commodities markets. Be it cattle or crude oil, the concept's the same: these are "futures" markets in which [more...]
Date: 2008-07-15 11:11:46
Gold Investments Market Update - Geopolitical Risk Escalates and Will Lead to Further Safe Haven Demand
Gold has commenced the New Year as it did in 2008 – up sharply in early trading before selling off somewhat. Gold surged (along with oil) ... . Gold Price Rupees per ounce Indian gold futures MAUc1 gained more than 29 percent in 2008 ... currencies so far this morning, gold has given up its earlier gains. The reemergence of geopolitical [more...]
Date: 2009-01-06 15:35:50
Oil Squeeze? Blame Yourself
The Journal’s Russell Gold reports: When it comes to the price of crude oil and gasoline, who is in the driver’s seat? One common answer is no one ... into the commodity futures market. All of this plays a role: the availability of supply, financial market interest in commodities, and don’t forget the strength of the U.S. dollar (the global [more...]
Date: 2008-09-03 18:43:00
DrumBeat: September 16, 2008
Oil at 7-month low on Wall Street woes Crude futures fall more than $4 a barrel as economic concerns fuel market fears that demand for energy will not recover any time soon. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices settled at a seven-month low Tuesday as the meltdown on Wall Street pulled the oil market's focus to the economic slowdown that has [more...]
Date: 2008-09-16 14:05:01
THE SPIN STOPS HERE
Aubie Baltin CFA, CTA, CFP, PhD. June 21, 2008 THE PRICING OF OIL: ... the price is determined in either the Futures or Spot markets. ECONOMICS 501: There are two primary [more...]
Date: 2008-06-22 18:00:31
In his blog post, Mustard Seeds of Hope, which mega-investor did Larry Kudlow quote?
#fullpost{display:inline;}CNBC Bonus Bucks Trivia AnswersCNBC Million Dollar Portfolio ChallengeThe CallIn his blog post, Mustard Seeds of Hope, ... inflation spread continues to fall.The second positive is the collapse of oil prices and the end ... , to $3.04 from $4.11. The futures market suggests [more...]
Date: 2008-12-08 16:13:00
Oil Watch: Oil Bears and $2 Gas
The bears were pushed away from the oil-market carcass, but only just. Crude futures closed up at just under $50, the first upward tick in six days, as markets tried ... , at least, there’s nothing but good news for American drivers. Nationwide average gasoline prices fell [more...]
Date: 2008-11-21 11:05:00
Jim Hamiton Listens to Janet Yellen of the SF Fed on Risks for the U.S. Economy
Janet: Econbrowser: Janet Yellen on risks and prospects for the U.S ... high... inventories of unsold homes remain at elevated levels.... futures market for house prices ... in developing countries has boosted their appetite for commodities... since 2000, world demand for oil [more...]
Date: 2008-07-08 18:43:00
Refineries Paying Record Premiums for Top Grade Crude
The Financial Times reports today that refiners are paying prices higher than those indicated by the futures market for the lightest, meaning best, grades of crude oil. This points to an issue raised [more...]
Date: 2008-06-12 21:49:35
Speculators not to blame
In certain quarters people keep arguing that the surging oil and food prices are caused by speculative international investments in these commodities. People who understand how the market is working have always maintained that the principle effect of commodity futures is beneficial because they smooth extreme swings of prices [more...]
Date: 2008-07-11 05:22:11
China fuel price hike may not sap demand
SHANGHAI, China (AP) — The jump in China’s state-controlled fuel prices will inevitably squeeze consumers at both filling stations and grocery ... the oil market may have overreacted to the news from China, with some traders buying oil futures [more...]
Date: 2008-06-20 16:15:11
Closing Enron Loophole Would Drop Oil Prices 25% - 50% Overnight
The way Republicans tell it, the minute we start drilling off the coasts of California, Florida and elsewhere, the price of gas will go down ... for the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), the government board that oversees commodities markets: “Yes ... follows.) The Enron Loophole is the nickname for a provision written into the [more...]
Date: 2008-06-22 18:55:04
Oil Traders Seek Another 10 Tankers for Storage, Frontline Says
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Frontline Ltd., the world’s biggest owner of supertankers, ... it for delivery later, profiting from a futures market situation called contango where prices are higher [more...]
Date: 2009-01-07 16:59:00
Oil falls below $54 as US demand outlook worsens
Markets in the United States are closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, but electronic trading on the Nymex continues ... from a low of $52.62 earlier in the session. Investors tend to increase their holdings in commodities ... cents to $53.21 on the ICE Futures exchange. Prices have hovered just above three-year lows [more...]
Date: 2008-11-27 13:01:00
The Top 10 Biofuels Stories of the Year: #6, Commodity prices
Palm, corn, wheat, ethanol, oil, and soybeans went on their biggest Coney Island rollercoaster ride ever this year, with corn rising as high last summer as $7.85 in the futures markets before falling to $3.50 late ... , had just two biodiesel plants operating in the country. Corn, soybean futures rise sharply on weak [more...]
Date: 2008-12-31 12:59:02
The Price of Gas will soon be $1.50, right?
This will teach them, right? H.R. 6377 directs CFTC to use all its authority, including its emergency powers, immediately to curb the role of excessive speculation in the energy and swaps futures markets ... that an artificially high demand for essential commodities such as oil and corn has been created [more...]
Date: 2008-06-27 20:30:06
Closing Enron Loophole Would Drop Oil Prices 25% - 50% Overnight
Guest blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review. Drilling off the coast of California, ... by Michael Greenberger, the former director of Trading & Markets for the Commodities Future Trading ... follows.) The Enron Loophole is the nickname for a provision written into the Commodity Futures [more...]
Date: 2008-06-22 19:42:52
Market’s Decline Deepens
Layoffs and slashed profit forecasts at several bellwether companies led to a broad market sell-off Wednesday, ... , while a more than $4-a-barrel dive in oil prices sunk the energy sector. Notably, the Energy Select ... jobs jittersThe best (and cheapest) funds aroundStock futures signal dip [more...]
Date: 2009-01-07 19:36:26
What Needs to Be Stopped Is "Stop Oil Speculation Now"
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has just sent around a letter urging its members to join Al Gore, virtually all the major airlines, ... to address a politically caused problem, not a normally functioning commodities market, is what deserves ... are doing their part to make this a self-fulfilling prophecy. Futures trading driving up the price [more...]
Date: 2008-07-19 01:50:38
Gold Investments Market Update - Savers Trusting Gold More Than Banks and Governments
Gold fell sharply yesterday on lower oil prices and the recently surging dollar, despite unprecedented physical demand for coins and bars in the UK, ... trading in futures, CFDs and spread betting is an extremely high risk endeavour in the current markets [more...]
Date: 2008-10-03 13:18:36
Those “Evil” Speculators
Markets, including the futures markets, are how supply, demand, and pricing information is transferred in a free market capitalist system ... to do something about rising oil prices by shooting the messenger known as the energy futures market ... . Futures markets aren’t some shadowy dangerous force, but are essentially a price discovery mechanism [more...]
Date: 2008-06-12 03:03:01
What Can Onions Teach Us About Oil Prices?
Onions have no futures market, yet their recent price volatility makes the swings in oil and corn look tame ... in a commodity not in today's news: onions. The bulbous root is the only commodity for which futures trading is banned. Back in 1958, onion growers convinced themselves that futures traders were [more...]
Date: 2008-06-29 15:52:02
thinking like an analyst
Randomly surfing news channels yesterday, I saw an economic analyst from a leading investment bank talk about his thoughts on surging oil ... to play the oil futures market, or are just care about when the price of your daily commute is going to come down, there's a specialist who provides this data, for a fee. Posted by Ed Cotton Tags [more...]
Date: 2008-06-11 16:03:04
Green Ink: Oil?s Future Is Pricey
paper Crude oil futures inched above $65 after earlier declines, boosted by rising stock markets, Bloomberg reports ... social unrest. Lower oil prices are self-correcting. Just look at the 2013 futures price, says the WSJ— ... . But dismal economic data out of the U.S. and Asia has some analysts forecasting $55 oil. China [more...]
Date: 2008-11-04 14:19:44
Oil Prices Mixed As Market Focuses On Soft Demand
NEW YORK: Oil prices were mixed on Tuesday as market concerns about soft demand eclipsed supply concerns amid rising geopolitical tensions in the ... due to deepening geopolitical frictions, analysts said. The New York futures contract hit an intra ... of an economic recovery in 2009, hedge funds back on commodities and finally cold temperatures,” said [more...]
Date: 2009-01-07 03:30:26
