Petroleum futures were trading in the red in the overnight session on Monday amid a rise in coronavirus infections across the world, despite further weakness in the US dollar and mostly higher trade in European equities and in US stock market index futures. It was a quiet morning on the economic calendar with market participants looking ahead to Canadian housing starts for further direction.
According to Reuters, India reported a record rise in COVID-19 infections on Monday which lifted overall cases to over 15 million, making it the country with the second-highest coronavirus infections in the world, after the US. India's capital region of Delhi has ordered a six-day lockdown. Hong Kong will suspend flights from India, Pakistan, and the Philippines from April 20 due to imported coronavirus infections.
Asian stock markets closed flat to higher overnight with the Nikkei steady, while the Hang Seng rose 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite added 1.5%. As of this writing, European shares were trading mixed with the DAX down 0.1%, whereas the FTSE 100 had added 0.2% and the CAC 40 had gained 0.4%. US stock market index futures were seeing gains of between 0.1% (Nasdaq) and 0.5% (Dow). Also supportive for crude oil prices, the US dollar index was down 0.5% this morning.
Petroleum futures settled lower on Friday amid a rise of 7 in the US oil rig count, despite strength in equities and weakness in the US dollar. WTI crude fell 33 cents to settle at $63.13/bbl and Brent crude lost 17 cents to close at $66.77/bbl. RBOB futures settled 1.19 cents lower at $2.0399/g and ULSD (HO) futures edged down 32 points to $1.8957/g. According to Platts, New York Harbor ULSD and ULSHO barge differentials to NYMEX strengthened by 15 and 25 points to +0.25c/g and -15.25c/g, respectively, while the HSHO barge differential held steady at -25.75c/g. Also per Platts, propane prices went the other direction from crude on Friday as Mt. Belvieu LST prices rose 25 points to 77.875c/g and non-LST prices added 1.375 cents to 79.125c/g. Conway spot prices strengthened 75 points to average 73.000c/g.
Natural gas futures rose 2.2 cents on Friday, settling at $2.680/mmBtu with a tighter US market balance expectation for this week. As of this morning, the latest 1-5 day outlook based on the European model calls for below-normal temperatures across the majority of the country with large deviations below normal temperatures expected in the Midwest. The 6-10 day forecast sees mostly below-normal temperatures in both the Northeast and the Midwest.
