Energy And Equity Markets Around The World Are Seeing Another Wave Of Heavy Selling To Start The Week
Energy and equity markets around the world are seeing another wave of heavy selling to start the week, after Friday’s session ended on a bearish note. Gasoline prices are leading the way lower this morning, and while they’re some 25 cents lower than the high trade Friday, the pattern we’ve seen lately suggests we shouldn’t expect the weakness to last too long.
Equity indices look much more bearish than energy futures, with their May lows taken out in the early going this morning, which leaves the door open to another big move lower. Energy futures meanwhile still have a ways to go before threatening the bullish trend lines that have helped refined product prices more than double since December. That global “Energy Shock” is center stage in the financial market fallout as a key driver of the inflation that’s holding at 40 year highs and forcing both the FED and the average consumer to consider change their behavior.
Before Friday’s inflation reading, fed fund futures were only pricing in a 3% chance of a 75 point rate hike at this week’s meeting, and now they’re pricing in a 23% chance of an increase greater than 50 points. The outer months are seeing similar moves, with the odds that the FED won’t continue with a series of 50 point or greater hikes in July and September dropping rapidly as the inflation battle realities sink in.
The expectations for a more hawkish FED seem to be contributing heavily to an inversion in the 2 year vs 10 year treasury yield curve, an indicator that is often pointed to as a precursor to most US Recessions. As the chart below shows, a major difference in that yield curve vs what we saw in 2000, 2007 and 2019 is that the shorter term treasury rates have not come anywhere close to inverting, which highlights just how dramatic the FED’s upcoming moves are vs what we’ve seen so far this century.
Money managers continue to show mixed feelings about energy contracts, adding to net length in ULSD, WTI and Brent, while reducing their exposure to RBOB and Gasoil contracts. Open interest for all contracts remains at noticeably low levels, as both hedgers and speculators seem to be waiting to jump back in.
Baker Hughes reported a net increase of 6 oil rigs and no change in gas rigs drilling in the US last week. New Mexico accounted for 5 of the 6 added rigs, which could be a sign that drillers are starting to work through the large amount of federal leases signed in the past couple of years, and affirms recent reports that growth in the Permian could outpace that of just about every country in the world.
The National Hurricane Center is monitoring a system in the Western Caribbean this week, and giving 30% odds this morning of development. While we’re still 3 months away from the peak of the season, and usually storms this time of year don’t pose as much of a threat to the US Gulf Coast as they do in August and September, any potential system will need to be monitored closely this year given how tight the refinery network is already.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
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View AllGasoline Futures Are Leading The Energy Complex Higher This Morning With 1.5% Gains So Far In Pre-Market Trading
Gasoline futures are leading the energy complex higher this morning with 1.5% gains so far in pre-market trading. Heating oil futures are following close behind, exchanging hands 4.5 cents higher than Friday’s settlement (↑1.3%) while American and European crude oil futures trade modestly higher in sympathy.
The world’s largest oil cartel is scheduled to meet this Wednesday but is unlikely they will alter their supply cuts regimen. The months-long rally in oil prices, however, has some thinking Saudi Arabia might being to ease their incremental, voluntary supply cuts.
Tropical storm Rina has dissolved over the weekend, leaving the relatively tenured Philippe the sole point of focus in the Atlantic storm basin. While he is expected to strengthen into a hurricane by the end of this week, most projections keep Philippe out to sea, with a non-zero percent chance he makes landfall in Nova Scotia or Maine.
Unsurprisingly the CFTC reported a 6.8% increase in money manager net positions in WTI futures last week as speculative bettors piled on their bullish bets. While $100 oil is being shoutedfromeveryrooftop, we’ve yet to see that conviction on the charts: open interest on WTI futures is far below that of the last ~7 years.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
The Energy Bulls Are On The Run This Morning, Lead By Heating And Crude Oil Futures
The energy bulls are on the run this morning, lead by heating and crude oil futures. The November HO contract is trading ~7.5 cents per gallon (2.3%) higher while WTI is bumped $1.24 per barrel (1.3%) so far in pre-market trading. Their gasoline counterpart is rallying in sympathy with .3% gains to start the day.
The October contracts for both RBOB and HO expire today, and while trading action looks to be pretty tame so far, it isn’t a rare occurrence to see some big price swings on expiring contracts as traders look to close their positions. It should be noted that the only physical market pricing still pricing their product off of October futures, while the rest of the nation already switched to the November contract over the last week or so.
We’ve now got two named storms in the Atlantic, Philippe and Rina, but both aren’t expected to develop into major storms. While most models show both storms staying out to sea, the European model for weather forecasting shows there is a possibility that Philippe gets close enough to the Northeast to bring rain to the area, but not much else.
The term “$100 oil” is starting to pop up in headlines more and more mostly because WTI settled above the $90 level back on Tuesday, but partially because it’s a nice round number that’s easy to yell in debates or hear about from your father-in-law on the golf course. While the prospect of sustained high energy prices could be harmful to the economy, its important to note that the current short supply environment is voluntary. The spigot could be turned back on at any point, which could topple oil prices in short order.
Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.
Gasoline And Crude Oil Futures Are All Trading Between .5% And .8% Lower To Start The Day
The energy complex is sagging this morning with the exception of the distillate benchmark as the prompt month trading higher by about a penny. Gasoline and crude oil futures are all trading between .5% and .8% lower to start the day, pulling back after WTI traded above $95 briefly in the overnight session.
There isn’t much in the way of news this morning with most still citing the expectation for tight global supply, inflation and interest rates, and production cuts by OPEC+.
As reported by the Department of Energy yesterday, refinery runs dropped in all PADDs, except for PADD 3, as we plug along into the fall turnaround season. Crude oil inventories drew down last week, despite lower runs and exports, and increased imports, likely due to the crude oil “adjustment” the EIA uses to reconcile any missing barrels from their calculated estimates.
Diesel remains tight in the US, particularly in PADD 5 (West Coast + Nevada, Arizona) but stockpiles are climbing back towards their 5-year seasonal range. It unsurprising to see a spike in ULSD imports to the region since both Los Angeles and San Francisco spot markets are trading at 50+ cent premiums to the NYMEX. We’ve yet to see such relief on the gasoline side of the barrel, and we likely won’t until the market switches to a higher RVP.