Petroleum futures were strengthening further in the overnight session on Friday amid some weakness in the US dollar and mostly higher trade in global shares. Gains in equities came despite disappointing European economic data releases. Market participants looked ahead to a report on the Canadian labor market and to the weekly Baker Hughes rig counts for further direction.
Hong Kong shares strengthened 0.70% overnight, while shares in Shanghai were off 0.04% and Tokyo fell 0.63%. Consumer prices in China saw a surprise 0.4% dip last month, per the CPI. European economic data releases were largely misses. UK GDP growth for May was expected to come in at 1.7%, but instead came in at 0.8% and with a 0.3 percentage point downward revision to GDP growth for April to 2.0%. Also a miss was May industrial production, which rose 0.8% against expectations at 1.5%. The FTSE 100 was nevertheless up 0.87% as of this writing, although gains were stronger in the DAX (1.01%) and CAC 40 (1.82%). US stock market index futures were also in the black, with Nasdaq futures up 0.13%, S&P 500 futures having gained 0.52%, and Dow futures up 0.76%. Also supportive for crude, the US dollar index was down 0.13%.
The complex strengthened on Thursday amid bullish US crude oil and gasoline stock data from the EIA, despite weakness in equities. Brent rose 69 cents to close at $74.12/bbl and WTI jumped 74 cents higher, settling at $72.94/bbl. RBOB futures shot up 4.92 cents, widening the gasoline crack and settling at $2.2552/g. ULSD (HO) futures strengthened 3.13 cents and settled at $2.1204/g. In the New York Harbor barge market, differentials to spot NYMEX were flat to higher. The HSHO differential held steady at -31.75c/g, but the ULSD differential rose by 15 points to -0.15c/g and the ULSHO differential strengthened by 50 points to -17.00c/g. Biodiesel (D4) RIN prices fell from 162 cents to 158 cents yesterday. Propane prices strengthened yesterday amid a supportive weekly EIA stock report. Per Platts, Mt. Belvieu LST prices gained 75 points, reaching 108.000c/g, with non-LST prices up 50 points to 108.500c/g. Conway prices jumped one cent higher to 107.000c/g.
Natural gas futures on NYMEX settled 9.2 cents stronger at $3.688/mmBtu yesterday following a bullish weekly EIA storage report and with a stronger cooling degree day forecast for the next two weeks. As of this morning, the National Hurricane Center sees Tropical Storm Elsa headed east/north-east near Long Island and southern and coastal New England today, towards Nova Scotia.
