Crude Oil Futures Options Trading
CALL 1-888-456-8090 TO BEGIN TRADING TODAY!INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS CALL 1-541-773-5741
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Crude Oil Futures Options TradingCALL 1-888-456-8090 TO BEGIN TRADING TODAY!INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS CALL 1-541-773-5741 |
Crude Oil Futures: Oil Rises From Seven-Week Low on Outlook for Improving Demand February 8th, 2010Crude oil futures rebounded from a seven-week low on speculation demand will improve as the global economy recovers from its worst recession since World War II. A U.S. government report tomorrow may show wholesale inventories increased for a third month in December, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Investors are seeing oil’s decline as a buying opportunity after crude dropped as low as $69.50 a barrel on Feb. 5. Oil also gained after Nigerian rebels said they disabled a pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell Plc. “Everyone is going to be watching every piece of economic data like a hawk looking for signs of self-sustaining economic recovery,” said Anthony Nunan, an assistant general manager for risk management at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo. “The geopolitical risk factors were on the backburner through 2009, but in 2010 they are back and the big one is Nigeria.” Crude oil for March delivery rose as much as 95 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $72.14 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $71.44 at 2:40 p.m. in Singapore. The contract dropped 2.7 percent to $71.19 a barrel on Feb. 5, the lowest settlement since Dec. 15. Prices plunged 7.8 percent the past three sessions as debt worries in Europe lifted the dollar to an eight-month high against the euro and higher- than-forecast job losses in the U.S. depressed global stock and commodity prices. Nigeria Attack“If there’s thought toward tightening budgets and cost- saving, it may move down into the commodity chain,” said Geoff Clear, head of Asia commodities at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Singapore. “That’s probably what’s driving the mood down at the moment.”An overnight attack at Obunoma, south of the Nigerian oil hub of Port Harcourt, cut supplies from the Nembe Creek, Soku, Belema and Ekulama fields, the Joint Revolutionary Council said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Shell hasn’t received any report of the attack, the company’s Nigeria spokesman, Precious Okolobo, said yesterday. March Brent crude, the pricing benchmark for most African oil grades, rose as much as 85 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $70.44 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was at $69.90 at 2:43 p.m. Singapore time. April ContractThe contract, which expires Feb. 11, fell 3.5 percent to $69.59 on Feb. 5, the lowest close since Oct. 7. The more widely held April contract rose as much as 0.7 percent to $70.80 a barrel.New York oil futures have fallen 15 percent from the 15- month high of $83.95 reached Jan. 11, as the dollar rises and investors fret that tighter lending controls in China, the world’s second-largest energy user, will slow demand growth. Prices jumped 2.1 percent on Feb. 1 when the Institute for Supply Management’s U.S. factory index showed its biggest gain in five years in January. Crude prices gained today even as the dollar rose for a fourth day against the euro. The currency was at $1.3629 per euro as of 2:45 p.m. Singapore time. A stronger dollar reduces the investment appeal of commodities priced in the currency. Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators reduced their bets on rising oil prices for a third week, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. Speculative net-long positions, the difference between orders to buy and sell the commodity, fell 14 percent to 86,027 contracts on the New York exchange in the week ended Feb. 2, the Washington-based commission said in its weekly report. - Christian Schmollinger in Singapore and Ann Koh in Singapore at Bloomberg. Click here for your Free Crude Oil Gas Futures Trading eGuide |
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