Push Higher Continues For Energy Prices

The push higher continues for energy prices following the OPEC & Friend’s decision to leave official output quotas unchanged over the weekend. Brent crude reached a new high north of $82 overnight, reaching its highest level since November 2014

While Brent is surging to 46 month highs, North American grades aren’t faring quite as well with WTI nearly $10/barrel lower than Brent and Western Canadian grades now nearly $43/barrel below its Western European counterpart. WCS reached a record discount to WTI in Monday’s session as logistical bottlenecks continue to hamper land-locked oil prices.

Right on cue, the CME Group announced its plans to launch a new WTI Futures contract with delivery points in Houston, which it said will complement the benchmark WTI contract that delivers in Cushing OK, and will compete with the ICE’s Houston contract that began trading earlier in the year.

The FED’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) begins a 2-day meeting today, and according to the CME’s FEDWATCH tool, traders are giving a 100% probability of at least a 25 point interest rate increase being announced tomorrow afternoon, while 6.2% are predicting the increase could be 50 points. 10 year treasury prices are approaching a 7 year high as it appears the FED is eager to continue its rate hikes.

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