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NEWS
Petroleum futures were extending their gains in the overnight session on Monday amid news of further progress towards a COVID-19 vaccine, a missile strike on a Saudi Aramco distribution center, strength in European equities and in US stock market index futures, as well as weakness in the US dollar. Market participants looked ahead to US PMI data for further direction.
Reuters reports that COVID-19 vaccines could reach their first Americans by mid-December, according to a top health official. British drugmaker AstraZeneca said that its COVID-19 vaccine, developed along with the University of Oxford, could be around 90% effective. Also in the news, Yemeni Houthi forces fired a missile that struck a Saudi Aramco oil company distribution station in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea city of Jeddah, according to a Houthi military spokesman. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the claim. The strike was said to be carried out in response to the Saudi-led coalition’s actions in Yemen.
Asian stock markets closed mixed overnight with the Nikkei down 0.4%, while the Hang Seng edged up 0.1% and the Shanghai Composite added 1.1%. In European economic news, the flash November Composite PMI for the Eurozone came in at 45.1, below expectations at 46.0 and down from 49.4 last month. On the other hand, the flash Composite PMI for France was a beat, at 39.9 (vs 34.6), and the index for Germany also beat expectations by coming in at 52.0 (vs 50.1). The flash Composite PMI for the UK came in at 47.4, above the 44.5 Econoday consensus, but down from 52.9 in October. As of this writing, the DAX was up 0.6% and the CAC 40 had gained 0.5%, while the FTSE 100 was steady. US stock market index futures were seeing gains of between 0.4% (Nasdaq f) and 0.7% (Dow f) as of this writing. Also supportive for crude prices, the US dollar index was down 0.4% this morning.
Petroleum futures strengthened on Friday amid a drop of 5 in the US oil rig count and European equities, despite mixed trade in US shares and strength in the US dollar. WTI crude rose 41 cents to settle at $42.15/bbl and Brent crude added 76 cents to close at $44.96/bbl. RBOB futures rose 1.27 cents to $1.1752/g and ULSD (HO) futures gained 1.56 cents to $1.2863/g. According to Platts, New York Harbor ULSD, HSHO, and ULSHO barge differentials to NYMEX held steady at -0.15c/g, -15.00c/g, and -7.90c/g, respectively. Also per Platts, November propane prices rose along with crude prices Friday as Mt. Belvieu LST prices rose by 1.5 cents to 51.250c/g and non-LST prices strengthened by one cent to average at 51.000c/g. Conway spot prices rose by 25 points, hitting 49.250c/g.
NYMEX natural gas futures rose 5.8 cents to settle at $2.650/mmBtu on Friday amid a stronger two-week heating degree day forecast, despite a looser market balance expectation for this week and a rise of 3 in the US rig count. The latest 1-5 day forecast (EC) sees above-normal temperatures across the eastern half of the country. The 6-10 day outlook calls for above-normal temperatures on the East Coast, but mixed temperatures in the Midwest.
Price vs. NYMEX HO
NYH ULSD 1.2848 (0.0015)
NYH ULSHO 1.2073 (0.0790)
NY Harbor #2 1.1363 (0.1500)