Thursday, October 17, 2013

"Crude-Oil Futures Head Lower"

First the boilerplate:
I'm getting sick of saying it but "There's a lot of oil around".
From the Wall Street Journal:

Near-term Outlook Shows Rising Inventories and Sluggish Demand

Crude-oil futures prices were lower amid rising U.S. oil inventories and signs of weaker near-term demand in the world's biggest oil consumer.

rude-oil futures prices were lower Thursday amid rising U.S. oil inventories and signs of weaker near-term demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer.

The drop follows a 1.1% gain on Wednesday that came as the Congress worked toward a deal to increase the debt ceiling and allow government workers to return to the job. President Obama signed the deal, which funds the government through Jan. 15 and suspends the debt ceiling through Feb. 7.

Traders said the with the budget drama now temporarily resolved, the market is refocusing on the near-term outlook, which shows rising inventories and sluggish demand.

“We have the fundamentals and we are taking dead aim on the recent lows” at close to $100 a barrel, said Andrew Lebow, senior vice president for energy futures at Jefferies Bache LLC in New York....MORE
 Brent $109.26 down $1.33, WTI $100.48  down $1.81 after trading as low as $100.09.
Recently:
Oil: The Market Gets a Bit More Opaque With the EIA Shutdown, WTI Continues Stately Descent
Oil: WTI Lower Overnight and for the Week, Spread Blows Out vs Brent
Oil: The Energy Information Agency Says Brent and WTI Will Trade Down For the Rest of this Year and Into 2014
Oil--Trading the Brent/WTI Spread: Goldman Says It Is Not Going to Zero (and why refineries are sucky-suck suck investments right now)
Oil is still at Elevated Levels