Thursday, June 18, 2009

US Inventories & Summer Doldrums

Chart: Crude Oil (NYMEX WTI) Prices Over the Past 8 Days

The oil market has been chopping sideways around $70 over the past few days. Weekly US oil inventory numbers are released by the DOE each Wednesday at 10:30am New York time. This week the data provided little impetus for any price move for the oil complex. Bear is mind that although US data is widely followed, it is the source of less than a quarter of the world's demand. Nonetheless, US data is viewed as a barometer of global supply and demand. I was quoted in the Wall Street Journal today:
The draw in crude stockpiles and the rise in gasoline "offset each other, and the effect on the market was neutral," said Morgan Downey (WSJ)
 
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