Sunday’s surprise OPEC+ sends oil and oil stocks higher Monday (with slight retreat today)
On Sunday, April 2 OPEC+ announced a surprise oil production cut of more than 1 million barrels a day. The organization had not so long ago promised that it would hold supply steady. Saudi Arabia led the move by pledging its own 500,000 barrel-a-day supply reduction....
OPEC+ carries through on yesterday’s leaks and cuts oil production; oil and oil stocks continue rally
Today, Wednesday, October 5, OPEC and its allies, including Russia, approved a two million barrel-a-day cut in oil production. This is the largest cut in production since the onset of the pandemic. Here’s the key paragraph in the OPEC+ statement: “Adjust...
OPEC+ “considers” cutting oil production and oil and oil stocks surge today
All it takes is a report that OPEC+, the group of oil-producing countries that includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, is considering a big cut in production at its meeting this week to send oil and oil stocks off to the races. As of noon New York time, on Monday, U.S....
Sorry Joe, that trip to Saudi Arabia didn’t result in more oil production
I hope that President Joe Biden got a T-shirt on his August trip to Saudi Arabia. You know, one that says “I went to Saudi Arabia and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.” Because the U.S. President sure didn’t get a surge in OPEC oil production. In...
Perfect storm of bad news on oil supply sends WTI crude over $120 a barrel
I suppose there is something else that could add to the supply of bad news today on oil supply, but we’ve already got a full dance card At 2 P.m. in New York U.S. crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate traded up 5.07% to $121.55 a barrel; international...
Are oil prices headed lower? OPEC thinks so; Wall Street disagrees
OPEC has decided that the current global economic recovery is very fragile and that the smart course is to raise production only gradually. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said the global oil market will switch from being under-supplied to...
Oil falls as Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates agree on production levels
The dispute over oil production quotas between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that blew up the OPEC+ meeting two weeks ago looks to be over. Under the compromise, the UAE will see its baseline production level rise to 3.65 million barrels per day when the...
Watch my new YouTube video: “OPEC and the threat to green energy stocks
I’m starting up my videos again–this time using YouTube as a platform. The thirty-second YouTube video “OPEC and the threat to green energy stocks” went up today. Please watch and subscribe to my YouTube channel. And like my video. You can see...
Saudis surprise OPEC; oil soars by 5%
Today, January 5, Saudi Arabia shocked OPEC+ with a voluntary 1-million-barrel-per-day output cut. The announcement came after OPEC and Russia agreed to allow a 75,000 barrels a day increase in total production from Russia and Kazakhstan in February and March. On the...
Oil manages to creep higher today even with OPEC supply increase looming
Oil managed to close to the upside today, December 29, even though OPEC+ is set to add another 500,000 barrels a day to output starting in January. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate gained 0.76% to $47.98 a barrel. International benchmark Brent crude climbed...
Oil inventories prove stubbornly high
Inventories of gasoline and distillates fell last week, as they should even in a coronavirus-impacted summer driving season, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported today. But crude inventories remained stubbornly high, an indication that the rise in...
Oil keeps on rallying–and takes market with it
Remember how back on April 20 West Texas Intermediate traded at a negative $40.32 a barrel on the futures market? Then the fears were that anyone who owned a forward future and who was forced to accept delivery of that oil would not be able to find a place to store...
Two negative views of the oil market–and one’s from OPEC
It will take more than a year, and perhaps several years, for oil demand to recover to what it was before the coronavirus pandemic, said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency ahead of Thursday’s update on energy markets. Crude demand...
Yesterday’s carnage in the May oil futures spreads today to the June futures
After plunging below $0 on Monday as the May futures contracts neared expiration, West Texas Intermediate continued its descent with the price of oil on the June futures falling to $10 a barrel. The problem, clearly, isn’t in just a technical glitch in the...
Oil deal gets a shrug from the oil markets
This take from Goldman Sachs pretty much sums up the oil market’s reaction to Sunday’s agreement among OPEC+, the United States, Canada, Brazil, and various and sundry G20 oil producers to cut what could be generously calculated as 14.7 million barrels a...
Watch out for a wild Thursday (and maybe even Wednesday)
The U.S. stock markets are closed on Friday, April 10, for Good Friday. That sets up a short week and a long weekend–which would be likely to produce higher than normal volume and volatility on Thursday anyway as traders and investors bought and sold to position...
OPEC production curbs collapse in Russia-Saudi fight
It’s over. The three-year marriage of convenience between Saudi Arabia and Russia is done. The Saudi’s argued that Russia and OPEC producers must cut production further in response to falling demand for oil in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. Russia...
OPEC does nothing and markets seem to be ok with that
OPEC reached an agreement today to cut an additional 500,000 barrels a day from production. In reality that action is close to “no action” since OPEC has been informally making those supply reductions for most of the year thanks to voluntary cuts by Saudi...
Oil climbs ahead of December 5 OPEC meeting
Call it very, very cautious optimism. Maybe. Oil prices climbed ahead of the December 5 meeting of OPEC in Vienna. The oil market got a boost from a report today, December 4, from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that showed U.S. crude inventories fell by...
Oil rallies on actual inventory numbers after falling yesterday on projections
The Energy Information Administration reported today that U.S. oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub fell by 2.3 million barrels. That was the biggest draw down in inventory at Cushing in three months. Supplies at the Cushing Hub reflect production in the U.S....
Oil prices under pressure as OPEC meeting looms
Oil prices are down significantly today, November 19, on speculation that data to be released tomorrow will show a fourth straight weekly increase in U.S. oil inventories and nervousness about a successful conclusion to U.S.-China Part 1 trade talks. As of 1:30 p.m....
Oil falls to lowest level in five months; Brent breaks below $60 a barrel
Oil slumped to its lowest in almost five months and international benchmark Brent crude book below $60 a barrel today, June 12. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell 4% today to $51.14 a barrel, threatening the $50 a barrel psychological benchmark. Brent fell...
Show me” oil market still getting no evidence of rebalance of supply/demand
Yesterday the American Petroleum Institute reported a surprise increase in U.S. crude oil inventories with a build of 6.55 million barrels for the week ending January 18. Oil analysts had expected a small draw down in crude oil inventories of 42,000 barrels. Today the...
Markets worry about everything this morning–especially bank and energy stocks
I dare you to find something global financial markets aren’t worried about. And, moreover, many of the worries are re-enforcing each other today. So, for example, we’ve got U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer, saying on Sunday TV the the 90 day...
OPEC cuts production by more than expected–but markets are increasingly less impressed as the day advances
To the surprise of many, OPEC & Friends–what’s known as OPEC+–agreed to cut production by 1.2 million barrels a day beginning in 2019. This was a bigger cut than the 1 million barrels a day that commodity markets had expected. Oil prices and oil...
OPEC & Friends takes another step toward cutting production
Saudi Arabia, Russia and other members of what is known as OPEC+ recommended a cut in oil production today. The group’s meeting ended without an agreement on the size of the proposed cut. But Russia did agree to participate in the production curbs for six months...
Oil gains on Trump-Xi “success, Russia-Saudi “deal,” and actual production cuts from Alberta
As of 2:30 p.m. New York time U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 3.04% to $52.48 a barrel. International benchmark Brent crude gained 2.84% to break back above $60 a barrel at $61.15. Part of the reason for the gain is a general sigh of relief that the...
OPEC advisory group recommends cut of 1.3 million barrels a day to December 6 oil cartel summit
It’s only an advisory group with no decision-making power, but the recommendation from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Economic Commission Board is the first step in changing production policy at OPEC & Friends. Today the group told OPEC...
So much big picture uncertainty
For this short holiday trading week, I’m expecting volatility in asset classes that range from oil to stocks to the U.S. dollar, as traders and investors try to figure out how to “price in” a metric ton of macro uncertainty scheduled for the next...Jim’s Daily Email Alerts:
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