Skip to main content

Oil and gasoline futures fall.

Bloomberg reports that futures prices of crude oil and gasoline are falling today as an improved picture for crude oil production in Alaska and Nigeria has emerged, along with a cease fire in the Middle East.

From Bloomberg: Crude oil fell and gasoline dropped to a two-month low after BP Plc said it will keep half of the output flowing at the largest U.S. oil field, and a cease-fire began in Lebanon.

BP plans to pump about 200,000 barrels a day from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska while it replaces corroded pipelines, rather than shutting the entire field as initially intended. Middle East supply concern also eased as the cease-fire began early today. Royal Dutch Shell Plc's Nigeria venture last week began pumping oil through a pipeline that was damaged in July.

``The cessation of hostilities in Lebanon, the improved outlook for Prudhoe Bay and the return of the Shell output in Nigeria have combined to move us lower,'' said Michael Fitzpatrick, vice president of energy risk management at Fimat USA in New York. ``You are seeing some of the speculators leave the market but this move could be short lived.''

Crude oil for September delivery fell $1.35, or 1.8 percent, to $73 a barrel at 10:04 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $72.90, the lowest since July 31. Prices are up 9.4 percent from a year ago.

Gasoline for September delivery declined 7.13 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $1.993 a gallon in New York. Futures touched $1.9674 during the session, the lowest since June 19. Prices are little changed from a year ago.

The Bloomberg report is accompanied by video of analysts weighing in on oil prices, but I found the video slow to load.

I've copied a shortcut link to the Donald Coxe interview and pasted it in Window's Media Player to play. By pressing play and allowing it to buffer it's way through the interview, the entire clip will play back smoothly if played again.

Incidentally, all three video interviews seem to put forth the notion that oil prices should fall or at least "pause" in the near term. Watch out for the consensus!

Popular posts from this blog

Nasdaq credit rating junked.

S&P cut Nasdaq's credit rating to junk status citing debt burdens and its questionable strategy to buy a controlling interest in the London Stock Exchange. Financial Times reported that the exchange's counterparty credit & bank loan rating were lowered fromm BBB- (lowest investment grade rating) to BB+. The change will increase Nasdaq's borrowing costs should it wish to pursue aquisition targets. For an earlier look at the exchange consolidation trend that brought about Nasdaq's push for a stake in the LSE, please see "Exchange fever" .

Clean Money - John Rubino: Book review

Clean Money by John Rubino 274 pages. Hoboken, New Jersey John Wiley & Sons. 2009. 1st Edition. The bouyant stock market environment of the past several years is gone, and the financial wreckage of 2008 is still sharp in our minds as a new year starts to unfold. Given the recent across-the-board-declines in global stock markets (and most asset classes) that have left many investors shell-shocked, you might wonder if there is any good reason to consider the merits of a hot new investment theme, such as clean energy. However, we shouldn't be too hasty to write off all future stock investments. After all, the market declines of 2008 may continue into 2009, but they may also leave interesting investment opportunities in their wake. Which brings us to the subject of this review. John Rubino, author and editor of GreenStockInvesting.com , recently released a new book on renewable energy and clean-tech investing entitled, Clean Money: Picking Winners in the Green Tech Boom . In Clean ...

Jesse Livermore: How to Trade in Stocks (1940 Ed. E-book)

If you've been around markets for any length of time, you've probably heard of 20th century supertrader, Jesse Livermore . Today we're highlighting his rare 1940 work, How to Trade in Stocks (ebook, pdf). But first, a brief overview of Livermore's life and trading career (bio from Jesse Livermore's Wikipedia entry). "During his lifetime, Livermore gained and lost several multi-million dollar fortunes. Most notably, he was worth $3 million and $100 million after the 1907 and 1929 market crashes, respectively. He subsequently lost both fortunes. Apart from his success as a securities speculator, Livermore left traders a working philosophy for trading securities that emphasizes increasing the size of one's position as it goes in the right direction and cutting losses quickly. Ironically, Livermore sometimes did not follow his rules strictly. He claimed that lack of adherence to his own rules was the main reason for his losses after making his 1907 and...