Selling In Energy Futures Has Picked Up

After a brief break last week, the selling in energy futures has picked up again to start Monday’s trading. RBOB gasoline is leading the complex lower, down more than 3 cents at the moment, while WTI is down 80 cents, trading within $1/barrel of its November lows.

There do not appear to be any smoking-gun headlines to blame the sell-off on so far, making it appear to be a continuation of the liquidation we’ve been watching for 6 weeks. The 3 days leading up to Thanksgiving can be some of the busiest of the year for gasoline demand as stations gear up for the busiest travel day of the year.

Money managers continued to reduce their net-long holdings across the board last week, with the big 4 Petroleum contracts all reaching their lowest level of the year for speculative funds betting on higher prices.

Baker Hughes reported a net increase of 2 oil rigs operating in the US last week, with the total rig count reaching a fresh 3.5 year high at 888 rigs.

Today’s interesting read from the Economic Times: Just 3 men now control oil prices.

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