Oil Price While oil prices have been struggling to move above $80 per barrel for weeks, some traders have bet on oil hitting as high as $110 a barrel in the early spring. It looks like some speculators are betting on a major escalation of the conflict in the Middle East in the coming months, considering the fact that fundamentals
World Oil (Bloomberg) – Exxon Mobil Corp. introduced a new compensation policy that would pay some traders cash bonuses, a significant change within the U.S. energy giant as it looks to expand its trading operations. Under the new structure shared internally last week, traders will be divided into two categories: system traders who buy and sell physical commodities in support
World Oil (Bloomberg) – Saudi Arabia may be getting closer to declaring its oil-market mission accomplished than traders realize, according to Rapidan Energy Group. Riyadh has propelled Brent crude toward $100 a bbl by slashing oil production just as global fuel demand hit record levels. That may soon be enough for the kingdom to start reviving production again, rather than risk
Investing LONDON/FRANKFURT – German energy firms Sefe and Uniper have awarded some traders millions of dollars in bonuses for 2022, four sources familiar with the matter said, just months after the companies were rescued with multi-billion bailouts as Russia halted gas supplies. Germany has so far provided around 26 billion euros ($28.6 billion) in equity injections and loans to Sefe
Oil Price Last week, we published one of the more bearish articles on the oil price outlook as reviewed by commodity analysts at Standard Chartered. According to the analysts, their proprietary crude oil money-manager positioning index that compares net longs across the four main New York and London-based crude contracts relative to open interest and historical norms is currently more negative
World Oil (Bloomberg) – Many of the world’s oil refineries are rushing to try and guarantee supplies of Middle East crude for next year, fearful of what’s to become of Russia’s giant export program. In under a month, almost all companies in the European Union will be barred from purchasing seaborne cargoes from Russia — an attempt by the
Oil Price Surging coal prices amid high demand and a lack of Russian coal imports has pushed European traders toward private funds to finance coal shipments, traders and private fund managers tell Bloomberg. Coal prices in Europe have jumped since the EU enforced an embargo on imports of Russian coal in August. Faced with energy shortages and soaring natural gas prices, many
Reuters NEW YORK – Oil was little changed on Tuesday, pressured by the threat to demand from rising coronavirus cases worldwide and increased Libyan output, though traders said talk of a U.S. stimulus package was supporting markets. Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell 3 cents to $42.59 a barrel by 11:55 a.m. EDT (1555 GMT). November U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell
CNBC One of the market’s worst-performing sectors this year has turned the tables. S&P 500 utilities stocks have been the top sector over the past month and in October, with the group now approaching a key bullish pattern known as a golden cross, when the 50-day moving average crosses over the 200-day moving average. The pattern typically suggests to chart watchers
Reuters NEW YORK – Every day, energy merchants collect and scrutinize whatever information they can find on fuel demand to get a trading edge: from satellite data tracking oil tankers worldwide to thermal images from cameras on pipelines and storage tanks. Real-time data on fuel demand would be the ultimate prize. On-the-spot gasoline consumption figures would change the way oil
Reuters Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) commodities unit generated more than $1 billion in revenue this year through May as traders positioned their bets for the collapse in oil prices, a source familiar with the group’s finances said on Wednesday. The gains were largely driven by oil trading, the source said, though other commodities, including natural gas, power and precious
Reuters WASHINGTON – When the U.S. Department of Justice charged a handful of JP Morgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) traders in 2018 and 2019 with alleged commodities futures manipulation, it wasn’t the first time the government had probed the bank’s metals trading activities. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) investigated the same business as part of a similar probe of
