Petroleum futures were trading flat to lower in the overnight session on Friday, after spending four sessions higher, amid strength in the US dollar, despite gains in European shares and in US stock market index futures. Market participants awaited Canadian retail sales data and the weekly US rig counts from Baker Hughes for further direction.
Economic data from Japan were neutral. The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy settings unchanged, as expected. The Japanese core CPI fell by 0.9% year-on-year in November, also matching expectations. The Nikkei closed 0.2% lower, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.3%, and the Hang Seng lost 0.7%. In European economic news, the Producer Price Index in Germany rose 0.2% last month, above the Econoday consensus at 0.1%. The Ifo Survey’s Business Climate index for Germany came in at 92.1 this month, beating the 90.5 expectation. Retail sales in the UK fell 3.8% in November, while forecasts called for a sharper drop of 4.2%. On the other hand, the PPI in Italy fell 0.2% last month, down from a 0.9% rise in October. As of this writing, the CAC 40 was up 0.1%, the FTSE 100 had added 0.3%, and the DAX had gained 0.4%. US stock market index futures were trading flat to higher this morning with Dow futures steady, while Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures were up 0.1%. The US dollar index was up 0.04%, which is unsupportive for crude oil prices.
Petroleum futures strengthened on Thursday amid strength in US shares and weakness in the US dollar. WTI crude rose 64 cents to settle at $48.36/bbl and Brent crude added 42 cents to close at $51.50/bbl. RBOB futures rose 3.52 cents to $1.3881/g and ULSD (HO) futures gained 1.73 cents to $1.4952/g. According to Platts, New York Harbor ULSD barge differentials to NYMEX strengthened by 25 points to -0.15c/g, while ULSHO barge differential weakened by 10 points to -8.50c/g. Also per Platts, propane prices rallied along with crude prices as Mt. Belvieu LST prices jumped by 3.75 cents to 67.500c/g and non-LST prices rallied 4.375 cents to 67.625c/g. Conway spot prices rose by 3.5 cents, reaching 63.250c/g.
NYMEX natural gas futures settled 4.1 cents lower at $2.636/mmBtu despite a stronger two-week heating degree day outlook and a bullish weekly storage report from the EIA. The EIA reported a 122bcf withdrawal from underground storage for the week ended December 11, above expectations at 120bcf. The latest 1-5 day forecast (EC) calls for above-normal temperatures in the Midwest, but mostly below-normal temperatures on the East Coast. The 6-10 and 11-15 day outlooks see near to above-normal temperatures in both the Midwest and the Northeast.
