Petroleum futures were losing ground in the overnight session on Monday, after spending five sessions higher, amid news that a new coronavirus strain has been spreading across the UK (causing fresh lockdowns in the country and new restrictions in Europe), losses in the European shares and in US stock market index futures, as well as further strength in the US dollar. It was a quiet morning on the economic calendar with market participants looking ahead to the Eurozone Consumer Confidence Index for further direction.
Reuters reports that a new COVID-19 strain, which is said to be up to 70% more transmissible than the original, has caused European countries, Israel and Canada to shut their borders with the UK. Hong Kong and India said that they would suspend flights from Britain. The new virus has also been detected in Australia, the Netherlands and Italy. In supportive news, the US Congress reached an agreement on Sunday on a $900bn stimulus package, which the House and the Senate are expected to vote on today.
Asian stock markets closed mixed overnight with the Nikkei down 0.2% and the Hang Seng losing 0.7%, whereas the Shanghai Composite added 0.8%. European shares were trading in the red this morning with the FTSE 100 down 2.2%, the CAC 40 having lost 2.7%, and the DAX having dropped 2.8%. US stock market index futures were seeing losses of between 1.0% (Nasdaq f) and 1.6% (S&P f) as of this writing. Also unsupportive for crude oil prices, the US dollar index was up 0.7%.
The complex strengthened across the board on Friday despite losses in equities, strength in the US dollar, and a rise of 5 in the US oil rig count. WTI crude rose 74 cents to settle at $49.10/bbl and Brent crude added 76 cents to close at $52.26/bbl. RBOB futures edged up 75 points to $1.3956/g and ULSD (HO) gained 1.78 cents to $1.5130/g. New York Harbor ULSD, HSHO, and ULSHO barge differentials held steady at -0.15c/g, -15.30c/g, and -8.50c/g, respectively, according to Platts. Also per Platts, December propane prices rose along with crude as Mt. Belvieu LST prices rallied 4.125 cents to 71.625c/g and non-LST prices jumped 3.375 cents to 71.000c/g. Conway spot prices added 4.75 cents, hitting 68.000c/g.
NYMEX natural gas futures rose 6.4 cents to settle at $2.700/mmBtu on Friday amid a tighter market balance expectation for this week. The latest 1-5 day forecast (EC) sees above-normal temperatures in both across the eastern two-thirds of the country. The 6-10 day outlook calls for mostly below-normal temperatures on the East Coast, while mixed temperatures are expected in the Midwest.
