The Inquisitive Mind

Over the past few months there has been a lot of investor interest in natural gas. The spot price of natural gas has collapsed to under $3 from a high of $14 last year. At the same time crude oil has rallied to a high of $74, from a low of $34. As a result [...]

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The equity markets continued where they left off yesterday and closed higher across the board, with the Russell2000 and the Nasdaq making new 2009 highs. The markets were led by two calls related to Goldman: the first an upgrade of the financial sector including Goldman, and the second, Goldman’s new target for crude oil for [...]

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As I had anticipated the equity markets gapped down at the open today. There is strong divergence all along, with large cap tech getting a bid while energy and financials being sold off. This is the reverse of the sector rotation we were seeing last week.
Market Internals Diverge
The market breadth is negative on the NYSE [...]

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The boom and bust in crude oil price in 2008 has increased retail investor interest in this asset class. Unlike professional traders, most retail investors do not trade oil futures but use ETFs which invest in oil futures contracts. The dominant ETF in this space is the US Oil Fund (USO), which invests its capital [...]

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Earlier this week I had written an article reviewing the proposal to increase the tax Big Oil companies pay on their profits, if they do not invest in alternative and cleaner energy resources. This article dwells further into that issue, especially with regards to the role of Big Oil companies and their ability to balance [...]

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Crude Oil’s relentless march towards the near term spike target of $150 is now threatening to send the Global Economy into a recession. Big Oil companies (Exxon-Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A), BP (BP) and ConocoPhillips (COP)) are in the thick of the controversy as the rising price of oil has seen their [...]

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The spike in the price of crude in May is having the anticipated effect of arousing the Congress in this election year. Earlier this week, Congress passed a bill with veto-proof margins to suspend intakes into the Strategic Petroleum Reserves till crude oil prices go under $75/barrel and stay there for ninety days.
Enron Loophole: Position [...]

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Crude Oil rallied to a new intra-day high of $126.98 today, before pulling back to close the session close to $126/barrel. The trigger for the rally was a International Energy Agency report that the stockpiles of distillates in Europe were down 6.7% in March over the same time year ago. Last week’s EIA’s report had [...]

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Oil surged above $126 today. Speculators are buying options on oil reaching even $150 in the next two weeks. The speculative fervor was fanned by a Goldman Sachs report that oil might spike to $150 or even $200 in the next six to 24 months. Oil had reached the $120 level and then fallen back [...]

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