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Tag: Brent Crude Oil Continuous Contract

  • Oil prices jump after drone attack kills U.S. troops, escalating Mideast crisis

    Oil prices jump after drone attack kills U.S. troops, escalating Mideast crisis


    Oil futures popped higher Sunday evening, after a drone attack that killed three U.S. service members in northern Jordan, blamed by the White House on Iran-backed militants, marked a major escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

    West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery
    CL00,
    +1.22%

    CL.1,
    +1.22%

    CLH24,
    +1.22%
    was up $1.09, or 1.4%, at $79.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. March Brent crude
    BRN00,
    +1.15%

    BRNH24,
    +1.14%    ,
    the global benchmark, gained $1.11, or 1.3%, to trade at $84.66 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

    Much will ultimately depend on the U.S. response and whether Iran takes action aimed at shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors, told MarketWatch on Sunday afternoon.

    “We are on the cusp of this escalating, which could seriously impact the flow of crude oil,” he said.

    Three U.S. service members were killed and more than two dozen injured in a drone strike on a U.S. base in northeast Jordan, according to U.S. Central Command. They were the first U.S. fatalities in months of attacks on U.S. bases by Iran-backed militias since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.

    President Joe Biden attributed the Sunday attack to an Iran-backed militia group and said the U.S. “will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner (of) our choosing.” News reports said U.S. officials were still working to conclusively identify the precise group responsible for the attack, but have assessed that one of several Iranian-backed groups is to blame.

    Some congressional Republicans called for direct retaliation on Iran.

    “We must respond to these repeated attacks by Iran & its proxies by striking directly against Iranian targets & its leadership. The Biden administration’s responses thus far have only invited more attacks. It is time to act swiftly and decisively for the whole world to see,” wrote Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a post on X.

    Oil futures rallied last week to their highest since November, but with gains attributed in part to production outages in the U.S. and more upbeat expectations around economic growth.

    “Crude already has the wind to its back, so this will only offer further upside,” Chris Weston, head of research at Australian brokerage Pepperstone told MarketWatch in an email.

    With the U.S. election later this year, “Biden needs to strike a balance between increasing aggression that potentially puts U.S. serviceman lives in danger and could potentially raise the cost of living…while also showing a defiant stance that shows his resolve against terror,” Weston said.

    Oil prices have seen short-lived rallies around developments in the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, but have failed to build in a lasting geopolitical risk premium. West Texas Intermediate crude
    CL00,
    +1.22%

    CL.1,
    +1.22%    ,
    the U.S. benchmark, remains around $15 below its 2023 peak in the mid-$90s set in late September. Brent crude
    BRN00,
    +1.15%    ,
    the global benchmark, pushed back above $80 a barrel last week.

    Attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants on Red Sea shipping have forced a rerouting of tankers and cargo ships. For crude, that’s had implications for the physical market but hasn’t interrupted the flow of crude from the Middle East.

    A move by Iran aimed at closing off the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s biggest oil-transportation chokepoint, remains a top worry.

    The strait is a narrow waterway that links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. At its narrowest point, the waterway is only 21 miles wide, and the width of the shipping lane in either direction is just two miles, separated by a two-mile buffer zone.


    Energy Information Administration

    Around 21 million barrels a day of crude moved through the waterway in the first half of 2023, equivalent to around a fifth of daily global consumption, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    The U.S. stock market has largely looked past Middle East tensions, with the S&P 500
    SPX
    returning to record territory this month, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    has also set a series of records.

    Dow futures
    YM00,
    -0.20%
    were off 94 points, or 0.3% as Asian trading got under way, while S&P 500 futures
    ES00,
    -0.22%
    fell 12 points, or 0.2%, and Nasdaq-100 futures
    NQ00,
    -0.24%
    lost 0.3%.

    Read: Stock-market rally faces Fed, tech earnings and jobs data in make-or-break week

    Away from oil, there were no signs of a significant surge in demand for instruments that traditionally serve as havens during periods of increased geopolitical tension. Futures on U.S. Treasurys
    TY00,
    +0.21%
    saw a modest rise of 0.2%, while the U.S. dollar
    DXY
    was little changed versus major rivals and gold futures
    GC00,
    +0.41%
    ticked up 0.4%.

    Escalating Middle East tensions won’t go unnoticed by traders, but probably doesn’t warrant a “solid derisking,” Weston said, particularly with investors facing a barrage of major market events in the week ahead.

    For U.S.-focused investors, the week ahead features a Federal Reserve policy meeting, earnings from tech industry heavyweights and a crucial December jobs report.

    The Middle East situation “won’t take us too far off the rates, growth track, but we have an eye on whether this escalates,” Weston said.

    —Associated Press contributed.





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  • Why Red Sea chaos is driving oil buyers ‘into the arms of U.S. shale producers’

    Why Red Sea chaos is driving oil buyers ‘into the arms of U.S. shale producers’

    Attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on vessels in the Red Sea have led to transport disruptions for oil and other goods, but international oil shippers may have found a way to deal with the chaos.

    The latest data from the Energy Information Administration offers a hint to that solution.

    The report from the government agency showed surprisingly large weekly increases in gasoline and distillate supplies, contributing to losses for energy futures on Thursday.

    But Robert Yawger, executive director for energy futures at Mizuho Securities USA, also highlighted another key figure in the data — a weekly jump in U.S. petroleum exports.

    Exports climbed by 1.377 million barrels a day to 5.292 million barrels a day for the week ended Dec. 29, according to the EIA.

    “For the first time since Houthi Yemeni rebels started to attack international shipping in the Red Sea, we are seeing a spike in U.S. exports,” said Yawger, in a Thursday afternoon note.

    The Red Sea chokepoints are critical for international oil and natural-gas flows, according to the EIA.


    U.S. Energy Information Administration

    “Apparently, international shippers are worried about being attacked on the open sea, and are getting beat” on the cost of sailing around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa as an alternative to the passage through the Red Sea, he said. Instead, the “safer and cheaper way to procure supply, especially for EU customers, is to sail the boat to the U.S. Gulf Coast and load up on cheap U.S. [oil] barrels.”

    See: Houthis launch sea drone to attack ships in Red Sea, hours after U.S. issues ‘final warning’

    U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude
    CL.1,
    +0.66%

    CLG24,
    +0.66%
    trades at a discount to global benchmark Brent crude
    BRN00,
    +0.45%

    BRNH24,
    +0.45%    .
    On Thursday, the February WTI futures contract settled at $72.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while March Brent settled at $77.59 on ICE Futures Europe — a difference of $5.40 a barrel.

    That compares with a “cost of carry” for an Amsterdam/Rotterdam/Antwerp refiner of around $4 a barrel, said Yawger. So “forget about the Houthis/Iranian menace in the Red Sea,” he said. “You don’t need a U.S. Navy escort from danger — just a nice, clean two- to- four-week round-trip journey to the U.S.”

    “‘Ironically, the chaos in the Middle East is driving international crude-oil customers into the arms of the U.S. shale producers.’”


    — Robert Yawger, Mizuho

    He expects U.S. petroleum exports to sustain the 5 million plus barrel-per-day level in the coming weeks, with the “geopolitical situation seemingly heating up every day.”

    “Ironically, the chaos in the Middle East is driving international crude-oil customers into the arms of the U.S. shale producers,” said Yawger. “There is a very good chance U.S. exports break the all-time record in coming weeks, just in time for refiners to pull back on the run rate.”

    Weekly U.S. crude-oil exports reached a record 5.629 million barrels a day in the week ended Feb. 24, 2023, based on EIA data going back to February 1991.

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  • Oil prices end lower as crude suffers first losing year since 2020

    Oil prices end lower as crude suffers first losing year since 2020

    Oil futures ended slightly lower Friday on the final trading day of 2023, capping crude’s first losing year since 2020 as concerns about the demand outlook outweighed potential supply disruptions and efforts by OPEC and its allies to limit production.

    Price action

    • West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery
      CL00,
      -0.45%

      CL.1,
      -0.45%

      CLG24,
      -0.45%
      fell 12 cents, or 0.1%, to close at $71.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

    • March Brent crude
      BRN00,
      +0.05%

      BRNH24,
      +0.05%      ,
      the global benchmark, fell 11 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $77.04 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

    • Back on Nymex, January gasoline
      RBF24
      rose 0.8% to $2.103 a gallon, while January heating oil
      HOF24
      fell 0.1% to $2.553 a gallon.

    • February natural gas
      NGG24,
      -0.64%
      declined 1.7% to finish at $2.514 per million British thermal units.

    Market drivers

    WTI, the U.S. benchmark, slumped 21.1% in the fourth quarter and suffered a yearly fall of 10.7%. Brent tumbled over 19% in the final three months of the year, posting an annual loss of 10.3%.

    Gasoline futures dropped 14.5% in 2023, while heating oil declined 24.1%. Natural gas plunged nearly 44%.

    Crude had rallied over the summer as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, together known as OPEC+, maintained production cuts, with Saudi Arabia throwing in a voluntary reduction of 1 million barrels a day beginning in July and Russia moving to curb exports. While production cuts have been rolled over into early 2024, oil peaked in late September as expectations for a significant supply deficit failed to materialize.

    Increased production by the U.S., which saw its output hit record levels in 2023, and other non-OPEC producers have also capped the upside for crude, analysts said.

    Read: Why oil may not see a return to $100 a barrel in 2024

    Oil futures jumped in the wake of the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October on fears that a broader conflict could cramp supplies from the Middle East, but crude failed to challenge its September highs and soon eroded its geopolitical-risk premium. Prices bounced somewhat in December as attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on shipping vessels in the Red Sea sparked a round of rerouting, but gains have proven difficult to sustain.

    Instead, investors “have started to focus on the risk that there may be excessive supply in oil markets next year, and insufficient demand,” said Marios Hadjikyriacos, senior investment analyst at XM, in a note.

    “Even though OPEC+ has taken repeated steps to rein in production and support prices, it is unlikely to pursue the same strategy for much longer, as it would forfeit more market share to U.S. producers who have dialed up their own production to record levels,” he wrote.

    Natural-gas prices, meanwhile, have slumped recently on a warmer-than-normal winter, said Lu Ming Pang, senior analyst at Rystad Energy, in a Friday note.

    The number of heating-degree days (HDDs), which reflect the extent of heating required, has been below normal so far, with a deviation of 28 fewer HDDs from the normal reported on Dec. 15, the analyst noted. HDDs are forecast to rise through Jan. 5 but remain slightly below normal.

    “Gas demand for heating is likely to rise as a result but will still remain below seasonal norms,” Pang said. “A combination of warmer weather, high underground-storage levels, and high domestic gas production is expected to keep U.S. prices suppressed.”

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  • Oil prices post first weekly gain in 8 weeks amid ship attacks in Red Sea

    Oil prices post first weekly gain in 8 weeks amid ship attacks in Red Sea

    Oil futures fell on Friday, but finished off the session’s lows to eke out a gain for the week — the first for U.S. and global benchmark crude prices in eight weeks.

    Attacks on ships traveling through the Red Sea, blamed on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, raised the potential for disruptions to the transport of oil and other goods, providing some support for prices.

    Oil saw larger declines early Friday after a Federal Reserve official walked back dovish comments made earlier this week by the Fed Chair Jerome Powell, helping to strengthen the U.S. dollar.

    Price action

    • West Texas Intermediate crude for January
      CL00,
      +0.49%

      CL.1,
      +0.49%

      CLF24,
      +0.49%
      declined by 15 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $71.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with prices ending 0.3% higher for the week, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

    • February Brent crude
      BRN00,
      +0.52%

      BRNG24,
      +0.52%      ,
      the global benchmark, fell 6 cents, or nearly 0.1%, to $76.55 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, settling 0.9% higher for the week.

    • January gasoline
      RBF24,
      -0.16%
      added 0.9% to $2.14 a gallon, up almost 4.3% for the week, while January heating oil
      HOF24,
      +0.20%
      climbed 1.1% to $2.62 a gallon on Nymex, marking a weekly rise of 1.5%.

    • Natural gas for January delivery
      NGF24,
      -0.88%
      gained 4.1% to $2.49 per million British thermal units, but still logged a weekly loss of 3.5%.

    Price support

    Danish shipping company A.P. Moeller-Maersk
    MAERSK.A,
    +7.52%
    said it will pause all of its container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice and detour them around Africa, Reuters and Bloomberg reported Friday, amid rising risks to its fleet posed by Houthi militants.

    The Red Sea is “one of the hot pockets of seaborne crude flows,” accounting for approximately 10% of global volume, said Manish Raj, managing director at Velandera Energy Partners. “Although the attackers lack sophistication … shipping crews are even less sophisticated, making them easy targets.” 

    A potential blockage of the Red Sea route would be “chaotic indeed, but not nearly as detrimental as blockage of [the] Strait of Hormuz near Iran, for which there is no viable alternative,” Raj said.

    Read from the AP: How are Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea affecting global trade?

    For now, there is concern over higher insurance costs for these ships, said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group.

    “With ships in the Red Sea continuing to be at high risk, ‘it won’t take that much for the market’ to see oil prices spike if an oil tanker should be hit.”


    — Phil Flynn, Price Futures Group

    Obviously, the risk to oil supply is large, although “so far, most of the attacks have been on cargo ships and not oil-related ships,” Flynn told MarketWatch.

    However, as ships in the Red Sea continue to be at high risk, “it won’t take that much for the market” to see oil prices spike if an oil tanker is hit, Flynn said.

    For the week, both U.S. and global benchmark crude prices posted gains.

    “The combination of lower U.S. inventories, stronger economic data, and improved OPEC compliance [with production cuts] for the month of November were the highlights of the week,” said Peter McNally, global head of sector analysts at Third Bridge.

    “However, there are ongoing seasonal challenges that forced OPEC to sustain production cuts through the first quarter of 2024, so it remains to be seen if they have done enough to prevent inventories from continuing their upward trend,” he said.

    Read The Year Ahead: Why oil may not see a return $100 a barrel in 2024

    Price pressures

    Oil had been trading lower early Friday after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams told CNBC that it is “premature” to discuss whether it is time to cut interest rates. “We aren’t really talking about cutting interest rates right now,” Williams said.

    That ran contrary to Powell’s comments Wednesday that Fed officials were starting to discuss when to cut rates.

    After the euphoria in the U.S. stock market over the Powell “pivot party” on Wednesday, we got a “wake-up call” from Williams when he pushed back on market expectations for a March rate cut, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said in market commentary.

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  • Oil prices drop to 2-week lows as doubts linger over OPEC+ production cuts

    Oil prices drop to 2-week lows as doubts linger over OPEC+ production cuts

    Oil futures fell Monday to their lowest levels in more than two weeks, building on recent declines that came after a round of voluntary production cuts announced by OPEC+ left traders skeptical about compliance.

    Price action

    • West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery
      CL00,
      -0.63%

      CL.1,
      -0.63%

      CLF24,
      -0.63%
      fell 85 cents, or 1.2%, to $73.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange,

    • February Brent crude
      BRN00,
      -0.44%

      BRNG24,
      -0.44%
      dropped $1.29, or 1.6%, $77.59 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

    • January gasoline was down 0.1% at $2.1198 a gallon, while January heating oil
      HOF24,
      +0.85%
      edge down 0.4% to $2.6501 a gallon.

    • January natural gas
      NGF24,
      -4.48%
      declined 5.3% to $2.664 per million British thermal units.

    Market drivers

    The OPEC+ deal last week was “unconvincing, to say the least, and oil prices have been in decline ever since,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

    “With markets seemingly anticipating more of an economic slowdown next year, the announcement simply doesn’t go far enough,” he said in market commentary. “It’s another large cut but how much will actually be delivered on? And are we at the limits of what the alliance is willing to achieve to balance the markets?”

    Crude prices ended last week with back-to-back losses after OPEC+ producers on Thursday agreed to voluntarily cut around 2.2 million barrels a day (mbd) of crude from the market in the first quarter of next year, a figure that included a widely expected extension of Saudi Arabia’s 1 mbd voluntary output cut and Russia’s 300,000 barrel a day cut to crude exports.

    OPEC+ cuts “look like they have rebalanced the market” for the first quarter of next year, but without further OPEC+ cuts in supply from the second quarter, “oil looks to register a 1 mbd surplus in that quarter, analysts at Citi wrote in a note dated Monday.

    The voluntary nature of the overall reductions sparked skepticism around enforcement and compliance, analysts said.

    “Soft price action since the OPEC+ meeting is reflective of an investor cohort that remains perplexed on how to deploy risk. The near-term path of least resistance is lower, given the degree of ambiguity and lack of catalysts,” Michael Tran, commodity and digital intelligence strategist at RBC Capital Markets, said in a Sunday note.

    “Oil has become a ‘show me’ type market. Now here comes the hard part: Prices will likely remain volatile and potentially directionless until the market sees clear data points pertaining to the voluntary output cuts,” he said.

    Those cuts won’t be implemented until next month, with country-level production and export data to follow. That means it will be a “long and volatile” two months before there is even preliminary clarity on compliance — “a long stretch for a market that is seeing a high degree of uncertainty, lack of risk deployment and a liquidity vacuum,” Tran wrote.

    Traders were also monitoring developments in the Middle East following an escalation of maritime attacks related to the Israel-Hamas war.

    Ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels hit three commercial ships Sunday in the Red Sea, while a U.S. warship shot down three drones in self-defense during the hourslong assault, according to the U.S. military. The Iranian-backed Houthis claimed two of the attacks.

    Oil futures spiked higher following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 but failed to challenge their late September highs. Crude subsequently fell back as fears of a broader conflict that could threaten crude flows faded, trading well below levels seen just before the start of the conflict.

    — Associated Press contributed.

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  • Why the U.S. economy isn't out of the woods as stock market soars

    Why the U.S. economy isn't out of the woods as stock market soars

    A rally in the U.S. stock and bond markets in the past week defied the bears and fueled hopes for more gains to come by year-end and in 2024 as Wall Street bought into the idea that the economy will pull off a “soft landing” after a run of interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

    But market skeptics are putting investors on alert that the “soft-landing” scenario is still at risk with consumer spending and job growth slowing, along with corporate earnings.  

    “The equity market is misguided,” said Josh Schachter, senior portfolio manager at Easterly Investment Partners, in a phone interview with MarketWatch. “The markets are behaving in almost a bipolar fashion — some asset classes such as bonds
    BX:TMUBMUSD10Y,
    oil
    BRN00,
    -0.29%    ,
    and dollar
    DXY,
    are being priced for a recession, while other assets such as equities and bitcoin
    BTCUSD,
    +2.16%    ,
    are priced risk-on.” 

    U.S. stocks built on their November gains in the past week, with the S&P 500 index
    SPX
    ending at new 2023 high on Friday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    logging its fifth week in the green. The rebound in stocks was due in part to bond investors starting to believe the Fed is done raising interest rates and is likely to begin cutting them by the first quarter of 2024. 

    Meanwhile, the narrative that a resilient labor market and steadier-than-expected economic growth should keep a recession at bay has gained traction, bolstering the “goldilocks” scenario for the financial markets. 

    See: These two leading indicators suggest a U.S. recession has already begun, according to Wall Street’s favorite permabear

    However, signs are emerging that consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of the U.S. economic output and has boosted the economy this year, has likely run its course following the post-pandemic recovery. Credit card and car loan delinquency rates are rising, student loan payments have resumed, consumer spending is cooling, and there are warnings from top retailers.

    Joseph Quinlan, head of CIO market strategy for Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank, said the “softness” in the U.S. consumer sector is visible but not huge, referring to that as “a canary in a coal mine,” he told MarketWatch via phone on Thursday. 

    The pullback in consumer spending is welcome news for Fed officials, who have increased interest rates 11 times since March 2022 to get inflation back to its preferred target of 2%. However, some analysts are worried that high interest rates and a decline in pandemic savings could eventually translate to weaker consumers in 2024, potentially another sign of a long-predicted slowdown in the U.S. economy.

    “One of the things I’m most concerned about is consumers’ ability to continue to pace the economy — you’ve got several headwinds that haven’t really borne completely out yet,” said Jason Heller, senior executive vice president at Coastal Wealth. “Does the consumer continue to behave the way they behaved the last 36 months? I think you will eventually see a slowdown in consumer spending which is going to mandate a slowdown in the labor market.” 

    Lauren Goodwin, economist and portfolio strategist at New York Life Investments, acknowledged that a modest slowdown in inflation and employment growth means that a “Fed relief rally” in stocks can be sustained, but her concern is this late-cycle limbo is no different than those of the past, which is a moment of “goldilocks” before the very reason that inflation is moderating — slowing economic growth and employment — becomes clear in the data.

    See: ‘We Are Still Headed for a Pretty Hard Landing,’ Ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers Says

    That’s why the November employment report, which will be released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics next Friday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, will be key for investors to watch. The U.S is expected to add 172,500 jobs in November after a 150,000 increase in the prior month, according to economists polled by Dow Jones. The percentage of jobless Americans seeking work is forecast to stay the same at 3.9%, leaving it at the highest level since the beginning of 2022.

    See: U.S. job growth pick up on the radar this coming week

    In fact, nonfarm payroll report publication days have been among the most volatile for stocks in 2023, compared with the release of monthly consumer-price index readings, which sparked some of the biggest daily up and down moves for the S&P 500 and other major indexes in 2022. 

    See also: Do CPI days still rock the stock market? How 2023 stacks up to 2022

    This year, the S&P 500 saw an absolute average percentage change of 1.12% on employment situation release dates, compared with an average percentage move of 0.64% on CPI days, according to figures compiled by Dow Jones Market Data. 

    That said, analysts are skeptical if the employment data is able to tell “a radically different story” but suggest the labor market will remain relatively tight into 2024, said Quinlan and Lauren Sanfilippo at Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank, in a phone interview. 

    See: What 2024 S&P 500 forecasts really say about the stock market

    Too much optimism in 2024 earnings growth

    Corporate America and their shares are telling investors a different story about next year. 

    With an estimated average S&P 500 earnings growth of 11.7% next year, the U.S. stock market is nowhere near recessionary concerns, said Heller. “We’ve [the stocks] priced in pretty significant growth in 2024.” 

    Strategists at Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank are in the camp of expecting a “mid-single digit” earnings growth for the S&P 500 in 2024, as earnings have troughed and the economy will fall back to the 2%-level of real growth after high rates confine consumer spending and corporate profits, cooling a red-hot economy. 

    To be sure, Wall Street analysts tend to overestimate the earnings-per-share (EPS) for the S&P 500, said John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet. 

    The current bottom-up EPS estimate for the S&P 500 in 2024 is $246.30. If that holds true, that would be the highest EPS number reported by the large-cap index since FactSet began tracking this metric in 1996. 

    However, over the past 25 years, the average difference between the EPS estimate at the beginning of the year and the actual EPS number has been 6.9%, meaning analysts on average have overestimated the earnings one year in advance, said Butters in a Friday note (see chart below).

    SOURCE: FACTSET

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  • U.K. stocks break three-day losing streak

    U.K. stocks break three-day losing streak

    U.K. stocks rose Thursday, as the FTSE 100 Index FTSE 100 Index closed up 0.19% at 7,483.58.

    Among FTSE 100 constituents, technical services company Intertek Group PLC Intertek Group PLC saw the largest increase Thursday, as shares climbed 3.42%.

    Shares of air freight firm International Distribution Services PLC International Distribution…

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  • Here’s what the Israel-Hamas war has done to U.S. gasoline and diesel prices

    Here’s what the Israel-Hamas war has done to U.S. gasoline and diesel prices

    Fuel prices, with the cost of gasoline and diesel at the pump both down from a month ago, don’t appear to be fazed by the escalating risks to oil supplies in the Middle East from the Israel-Hamas war, but they are.

    The decline in fuel prices seen nationally is actually a “bit above what would be ‘normal’ for this time of year,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. However, he believes “prices won’t fall as far as they would have had the attacks on Israel not happened.”

    On Friday, the average retail price for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at $3.528, down 5.7 cents from a week ago, while the average retail diesel price was at $4.465 a gallon on Friday, down 7.8 cents from Sept. 30, according to data from GasBuddy.

    U.S. retail gasoline prices have fallen so far this month.


    GasBuddy

    “Geopolitical risk is now heightened, changing the calculus” for the fuel market, said Brian Milne, product manager, editor and analyst at DTN.

    ‘Seasonal component’

    In considering retail gasoline prices during the fourth quarter, the “seasonal component is less pronounced than in years past,” said Milne. Demand for gasoline tends to fall following the summer travel season. Combined with a “strong slate of refinery maintenance,” which led to less fuel supply on the market, the rise in crude oil prices has slowed the decline in fuel prices, said Milne.

    If not for the heightened geopolitical risk in the Middle East, he said he might have expected to see gasoline prices decline by another 30 cents to 40 cents per gallon into late December because of lower demand.

    Retail gas prices may fall another 20 cents a gallon or more, depending on the location within the U.S., if we avoid broader hostilities in the Middle East, said Milne.

    However, if a conflict breaks out beyond Israel and the Gaza Strip, gasoline prices are likely to move sharply higher because of a spike in crude costs, he said.

    For its part, oil has seen volatile trading following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, with futures prices for U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude
    CLZ23,
    -0.42%

    CL.1,
    -0.39%
    higher for the week, but lower for the month.

    California prices ‘plummet’

    For now, California, which typically is among the states that pays the most per-gallon for gasoline partly due to taxes on the fuel, is seeing prices “plummet” — down nearly 60 cents in the last three weeks, said GasBuddy’s De Haan.

    “The West Coast is certainly seeing a much larger decline than is ‘normal’ and it’s due to the refinery situation now improving drastically,” as well as California’s RVP waiver, he said.

    The California Air Resources Board allowed gasoline sold or supplied for use in California that exceeds the RVP, or Reid Vapor Pressure, limits through the end of Oct. 31, marking an early transition for the state from the lower RVP gas used in the summer to help cut gasoline emissions to the higher RVP gas used in the winter.

    On Friday, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in California sold for $5.476, GasBuddy data show. That’s down 16.7 cents in just the last week.

    Gas price outlook

    De Haan said he does not expect to see a spike in gas prices nationally at this point, and there’s still room for prices to fall — just not as much following the Hamas attack on Israel.

    “If we get to November and Iran gets involved in the situation, then we certainly could see gas prices impacted in some way as the current drops will likely be fully passed on by then, giving stations no ‘room’ to absorb higher prices reflected by a potential rise in oil,” said De Haan.

    Still, falling demand, as well as “seasonality in general,” are what are pushing prices down, “enhanced by refinery improvements in areas” that saw price surges, he said.

    Prices may even fall further after refinery maintenance season wraps up in mid-November, and refiners have to find places to put even more gasoline output, said De Haan.

    He’s comfortable with the gasoline price forecasts GasBuddy issued in December of last year, which predicted a monthly national average for the fuel of $3.53 for October — matching the current price. The forecast also called for an average of $3.36 a gallon for November and $3.17 for December.

    GasBuddy doesn’t have a forecast for 2024 yet, but prices may look similar to this year, as long as the situation in the Middle East doesn’t further crumble,” said De Haan.

    View on diesel

    Diesel, however, is another story.

    Price for that fuel have dropped by 85.5 cents a gallon from a year ago to Friday’s $4.465 level, GasBuddy data show.

    U.S. retail diesel prices are sharply lower than a year ago.


    GasBuddy

    While down from a year ago, diesel prices are currently at a “very high level historically” because global supply is low, said DTN’s Milne.

    At this time in 2022 diesel fuel inventory was even tighter than it is now, and Europe was heading into winter without Russian natural gas after it was cutoff following the invasion of Ukraine, he said.

    That led to a spike in natural-gas prices and prices for gasoil, a European heating oil, also surged, lifting heating oil and diesel prices globally, explained Milne.

    Like gasoline, diesel prices could move “sharply higher if the war in Israel expands, and oil flow is put at greater risk,” he said.

    De Haan, meanwhile, said diesel prices could climb closer to $5 a gallon if there’s a “squeeze,” with relief then [coming] in the spring/summer” seasons.

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  • Will Israel-Gaza war sink stocks and shake the global economy? Watch oil prices.

    Will Israel-Gaza war sink stocks and shake the global economy? Watch oil prices.

    Wall Street on Monday shook off a bout of selling sparked by the Israel-Gaza war.

    That’s in keeping with the historical tendency of investors to look past geopolitical conflict and human tragedy, but it isn’t necessarily the last word. That last word will likely belong to oil traders.

    “Oil rallied today yet remains below the near-term peak from last month. If oil prices rise higher for longer, the global economy could feel a resurgence of inflation during a period when investors are hoping inflation is clearly decelerating,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial, in emailed comments.

    Roach also noted that, in general, markets tend to have difficulty pricing the difference between a temporary shock and a permanent shock.

    For now, however, the jump in oil prices isn’t signaling a permanent shock. Sure, Brent crude
    BRN00,
    +0.11%    ,
    the global benchmark, jumped 4.2% on Monday to end at $88.15 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude
    CL.1,
    +0.07%

    CL00,
    +0.07%
    surged $3.59, or 4.3% to $86.38 a barrel — the biggest one-day jump for both grades since April 3.

    See: Here’s what Israel-Gaza war means for oil prices as fighting continues

    The jump was impressive, but it comes after a big pullback last week that saw both WTI and Brent retreat from 2023 highs near $100 a barrel.

    So if crude can manage to close above those highs — $93.68 a barrel for WTI — investors across other markets will likely take notice.

    What would it take to drive crude back toward the highs? The focus is on Iran.

    The Wall Street Journal on Sunday reported that Iranian security officials helped plan the attack by Hamas. The Israeli military has said there is no concrete evidence of Iranian involvement, according to news reports.

    A direct role by Iran, a longtime ally of Hamas, would raise the threat of a broader conflict.

    Some analysts have put Iranian crude production at more than 3 million barrels a day and exports above 2 million barrels a day — the highest levels since the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the Iranian nuclear accord in 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sales fell to around 400,000 barrels a day in 2020 as the U.S. reimposed sanctions.

    “If Israel discovers that Iran played a role in Hamas’ attack, it could retaliate militarily. At the very least, any warming of relations between Iran and the West is now on hold and this will limit incremental oil supply,” said Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, in a Monday note.

    It’s a reminder that “while neither Israel nor Gaza are major oil producers, everything that happens geopolitically in the Middle East invariably ends up affecting oil prices,” he said.

    The potential for a broader conflict could lead to a “sharp market correction,” argued Olivier d’Assier, head of applied research, APAC, at Axioma.

    The scale of the conflict, the largest since the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago, renders comparisons with how markets have shaken off past geopolitical incidents, but they may be irrelevant in terms of stress testing, he argued.

    “The closest historical scenarios we could use would be 9/11 and the start of the Ukraine war. But because both took place on Western soil, they might not be adequate,” d’Assier said.

    On Monday, however, remarks by Federal Reserve officials ultimately trumped the rise in crude prices and jitters over the Middle East. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson both noted the rise in long-term Treasury yields and their role in tightening financial conditions, which investors took as a signal the Fed may not be as likely to further raise interest rates.

    See: An Israel-Hamas war could change what the Fed does about interest rates

    Stocks turned north after a morning dip, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    rising nearly 200 points, or 0.6%, while the S&P 500
    SPX
    also advanced 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite
    COMP
    gained 0.4%.

    For now, market participants appear set to look ahead to economic data later this week, including September consumer-price index and producer-price index readings.

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  • Oil prices jump 4% after Hamas attack on Israel

    Oil prices jump 4% after Hamas attack on Israel

    Oil futures opened with strong gains late Sunday as traders reacted to an attack by Hamas on Israel, raising Middle East tensions and stoking worries about the outlook for crude supply.

    Price action

    Market drivers

    Oil traders were focused on Iran after a weekend attack on multiple fronts by Hamas militants, who are backed by Tehran. The Wall Street Journal reported that Iranian security officials helped Hamas plan the attack, which has left more than 700 Israelis dead and saw dozens of Israeli citizens and soldiers abducted. Israel pounded Gaza in retaliation, where the death toll was also reported in the hundreds.

    Analysts said that if Iranian involvement is affirmed, it could lead the U.S. to increase enforcement of sanctions on the country’s crude exports, which have moved back toward pre-2018 levels in recent months.

    “Historical analysis suggests that oil prices tend to experience sustained gains after the Middle East crises,” said Stephen Innes, managing director at SPI Asset Management, in a note.

    Oil fell last week, retreating after Brent moved within a few dollars of the $100-a-barrel threshold last month and WTI briefly topped $95 a barrel for the first time in more than a year.

    Some analysts have put Iranian crude production at more than 3 million barrels a day and exports above 2 million barrels a day — the highest levels since the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the Iranian nuclear accord in 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sales fell to around 400,000 barrels a day in 2020 as the U.S. reimposed sanctions.

    See: U.S. stock futures tumble after Hamas attack on Israel

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  • ‘Fear trade’: What Israel-Hamas war means for oil prices and financial markets

    ‘Fear trade’: What Israel-Hamas war means for oil prices and financial markets

    Oil traders on Sunday said crude prices were likely to remain supported in the near term, as investors assessed the fallout from the surprise attack by Hamas on Israel and focused on the role played by Iran and the potential impact on that country’s petroleum exports.

    The conflict may also hold market-moving consequences for talks aimed at normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

    “While in the short term there is no impact directly on supply, it’s obvious how things play out over the next 24 to 48 hours could change that,” Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago, told MarketWatch.

    Brent crude futures
    BRN00,
    +4.17%    ,
    the global benchmark, and West Texas Intermediate oil futures
    CL00,
    +4.35%

    CL.1,
    +4.35%
    jumped more than 3% when the market opened Sunday night. U.S. stock-index futures
    ES00,
    -0.66%
    traded lower, while traditional havens, including gold
    GC00,
    +0.98%
    and the U.S. dollar
    DXY
    rose.

    Movements in oil prices, meanwhile, will also serve as a gauge for broader market worries around the conflict, analysts said.

    See: Israeli stocks slump in first day of trade since Gaza attack

    Hamas, the Iran-backed, Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, staged a sweeping attack on southern Israel early Saturday. News reports put Israeli deaths at more than 700. The Gaza Health Ministry said 413 people, including 78 children and 41 women, were killed in the territory as Israel retaliated, according to the Associated Press. Injuries in Israel and Gaza were both said to be around 2,000.

    Israeli troops on Sunday were engaged in fierce fighting in an effort to retake territory in southern Israel as Hamas launched further barrages of missiles. Israeli citizens and soldiers were captured and are being held hostage in Gaza, according to the Israeli military.

    Read: Israel declares war, approves ‘significant’ steps to retaliate after surprise attack by Hamas

    The Wall Street Journal reported that Iranian security officials helped Hamas plan the attack. U.S. officials said they haven’t seen evidence of Iran’s involvement, the report said.

    “Iran remains a very big wild card and we will be watching how strongly [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu blames Tehran for facilitating these attacks by providing Hamas with weapons and logistical support,” said Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, in a Sunday morning note.

    Iranian crude exports have risen in recent years, indicating the Biden administration has adopted a soft approach to sanctions enforcement, Croft said. Some analysts have put Iranian crude production at more than 3 million barrels a day and exports above 2 million barrels a day — the highest levels since the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the Iranian nuclear accord in 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sales fell to around 400,000 barrels a day in 2020 as the U.S. reimposed sanctions.


    RBC Capital Markets

    Hedge-fund manager Pierre Andurand, one of the world’s best energy traders, said in a social-media post that a large price spike for oil isn’t likely in coming days, but emphasized the market focus on Iran.

    “Now, over the last six months we have seen a very large increase in Iranian supply due to weak enforcement of sanctions. As Iran is also behind Hamas’ attacks on Israel, there is a good probability that the U.S. administration will start enforcing those sanctions on Iranian oil exports more tightly,” he wrote. “That would further tighten the oil market. Also the probability that this will lead to direct conflict with Iran is not zero.”

    Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal late Friday reported that Saudi Arabia had told the White House it would be willing to boost oil production next year if crude prices remained high, as part of an effort aimed at winning goodwill in Congress for a deal that would see the kingdom recognize Israel and in return get a defense agreement with the U.S.

    A Saudi production cut of 1 million barrels a day that was implemented in July and recently extended through the end of the year has been given much of the credit for a rally that took global benchmark Brent crude within a few dollars of the $100-a-barrel threshold before retreating this past week. The U.S. benchmark last week briefly topped $95 a barrel for the first time in 13 months.

    In a statement, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry called on both sides to halt the escalation and exercise restraint, but also recalled its “repeated warnings of the dangers of the explosion of the situation as a result of the continued occupation, the deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and the repetition of systematic provocations against its sanctities.”

    With the Israeli government vowing an unprecedented response, “it is hard to envision how Saudi normalization talks can run on a parallel track to a ferocious military counteroffensive,” said RBC’s Croft.

    Beyond oil, much will depend on the potential for the conflict to widen.

    Stocks have stumbled, retreating from 2023 highs set in late July, as yields on U.S. Treasurys have jumped. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond
    BX:TMUBMUSD30Y
    rose 23.2 basis points last week to end Friday at 4.941%, its highest since Sept. 20, 2007. The 10-year Treasury note yield
    BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
    topped 4.80% on Oct. 3, its highest since Aug. 8, 2007, and ended the week at 4.783%. Yields and debt prices move opposite each other.

    The U.S. bond market will be closed Monday for the Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day holiday, while U.S. stock markets will be open.

    The S&P 500 index
    SPX
    rose 0.5% last week, breaking a streak of four straight weekly declines, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average 
    DJIA
    fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite
    COMP
    gained 1.6%.

    “I think there will be a negative reaction. However, I don’t see a meltdown,” Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, told MarketWatch.

    Traditional haven plays, including gold, the dollar and U.S. Treasurys may see a strong move upward, with price gains for Treasurys pulling yields down.

    “Geopolitical crises in the Middle East have usually caused oil prices to rise and stock prices to fall,” said economist Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research Inc., in a note. “More often than not, they’ve also tended to be buying opportunities in the stock market.”

    The broader market reaction will depend on whether the crisis turns out to be a short-term flare-up or “something much bigger, like a war between Israel and Iran,” he said. The latter is unlikely, but tensions between the two are likely to escalate.

    “The price of oil may be a good way to assess the likelihood of a broader conflict,” he said.

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  • Why crude-oil rally can’t be ignored by investors — or the Fed

    Why crude-oil rally can’t be ignored by investors — or the Fed

    Central bankers like to focus on core inflation readings, which strip out food and energy prices, but that doesn’t mean that they, or investors, will be able to ignore a renewed surge in crude-oil prices.

    In a Thursday note, DataTrek Research observed that the correlation between energy prices and the core reading of the consumer-price index has returned to levels seen in the 1970s and 1980s. It stands at 0.62 since 2020, compared with an average of 0.68 in those prior decades, and well above its long-run average of 0.31. A reading of 1.0 would mean the measures were moving in perfect lockstep. (See table below.)


    DataTrek Research

    Core measures of inflation typically strip out volatile items like food and energy. While that often leads to eye-rolling by commentators who note that food and energy make up a big chunk of what consumers spend money on, the logic behind the move holds that such items are less responsive to monetary policy.

    Policy makers put more emphasis on the core reading for a better read on what they can influence. The core personal-consumption expenditures, or PCE, index, for example, is often described as the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation indicator.

    But that doesn’t mean rising energy or food prices can be ignored. Energy, after all, is an input, and can have an influence on overall prices.

    “Recent data says energy prices hold more sway on core inflation than any time since the 1970s/1980s, so rising oil prices are a legitimate concern for both the Fed and capital markets. Food inflation fits the same bill,” said DataTrek co-founder Nicholas Colas in the note.

    Oil prices have been on a tear this summer, with the rally accelerating after Saudi Arabia announced earlier this week it would extend a production cut of 1 million barrels a day through the end of the year, with Russia also pledging to extend a supply cut.

    West Texas Intermediate crude
    CL00,
    +0.48%    ,
    the U.S. benchmark, extended a winning streak to nine days on Wednesday, while Brent crude
    BRN00,
    +0.60%    ,
    the global benchmark, rose for a seventh straight day. Both grades ended at 2023 highs Wednesday before pulling back modestly in the Thursday session.

    The surge in crude threatens to further drive up fuel prices, including gasoline and diesel.

    And rising oil prices this week got a chunk of the blame from investors and analysts for a pickup in Treasury yields as market participants began to pencil in a longer stretch of higher interest rates — or weighed the possibility the Fed may need to deliver more monetary tightening. That’s also contributed to a rise in the U.S. dollar, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index
    DXY,
    a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, hitting a six-month high.

    U.S. stocks have weakened in the face of rising yields, with technology and growth shares, which are particularly rate-sensitive, leading the way lower. The Nasdaq Composite
    COMP
    was on track for a 2% decline so far this holiday-shortened week, while the S&P 500
    SPX
    has pulled back 1.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    has lost 1%.

    “With oil prices rising again, we got to wondering about the spillover effects of this move on inflation. Will pricier crude derail recent disinflationary trends?” Colas wrote.

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  • U.S. oil prices score longest streak of daily gains in over 4 years

    U.S. oil prices score longest streak of daily gains in over 4 years

    Oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, with U.S. prices posting a ninth consecutive climb — the longest streak of daily gains since early 2019.

    Prices for U.S. and global benchmark crude futures marked fresh settlement highs for the year so far, following the recent extension of supply cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia.

    Price action

    Market drivers

    “Saudi…

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  • Oil prices end at a 2-week high on reports Saudi Arabia said OPEC+ will do ‘whatever necessary’ to support oil

    Oil prices end at a 2-week high on reports Saudi Arabia said OPEC+ will do ‘whatever necessary’ to support oil

    Oil futures settle at their highest in two weeks on Wednesday, finding support after Saudi Arabia’s energy minister reportedly said that the kingdom and its allies will do whatever is necessary to support the oil market.

    The comments from Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman at an OPEC+ seminar was reported by a number of news agencies and follows the Saudi’s announcement Monday that it would extend its voluntary production cut by another month, through August.

    Tensions…

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  • What’s next for markets after aborted Wagner mutiny leaves Russia’s Putin weakened

    What’s next for markets after aborted Wagner mutiny leaves Russia’s Putin weakened

    Investors will start the week nervously sorting through the aftermath of a short-lived rebellion by the mercenary Wagner Group that’s seen leaving Russian President Vladimir Putin weakened.

    “As Monday’s global markets are set to begin trading, investors are laser-focused on whether the short-lived Russia insurrection was only the beginning of a much deeper thunderbolt set to rock geopolitical, economic and market stability in the days and weeks ahead,” Greg Bassuk, chief executive officer at AXS Investments in New York, told MarketWatch on Sunday in emailed comments.

    U.S. stock-index futures edged up after the start of electronic trading Sunday night, while oil rallied. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    YM00,
    +0.14%
    rose 25 points, while S&P 500 futures
    ES00,
    +0.15%
    edged up 0.1% and Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.2%.

    Global stocks fell last week as interest-rate hikes by European central banks stoked recession fears. In the U.S., the S&P 500
    SPX,
    -0.77%
    ended a streak of five straight weekly gains, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    -0.65%
    and Nasdaq Composite
    COMP,
    -1.01%
    also pulled back.

    See: Russia’s short-lived revolt could have long-term consequences for Putin, as questions remain over Prigozhin’s whereabouts

    ‘Real cracks’

    While a weakened Russia raises the prospects of a favorable outcome for Ukraine 16 months after Putin’s decision to invade, the potential for further internal strife in the nation with the world’s largest nuclear arsenal is less comforting, observers noted.

    “This raises profound questions. It shows real cracks,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning.

    Putin’s hold on power “certainly seems shakier than it was a few days ago,” but there remains “no clear contender to replace him, by election or coup,” said Benjamin Friedman, policy director at Defense Priorities, a foreign-policy think tank in Washington, D.C.

    Nonetheless, the war in Ukraine “is weakening Russia in various ways, including by creating internal strife and dangerously discontented elites who have some power,” Friedman told MarketWatch. “The perception of Putin’s fallibility and weakness is growing and creates its own reality. That is dangerous to him. It’s hard to predict what additional power grabs and instability that could create,” he said.

     See: Russia’s short-lived revolt could have long-term consequences for Putin, as questions remain over Prigozhin’s whereabouts

    ‘Bloodbath’ of volatility?

    AXS Investment’s Bassuk said the further turmoil “could drive a bloodbath of market volatility amid its impact on the war with Ukraine, a shifting balance among the G-8 superpowers, and the already heightened potential for a U.S. and global recession.”

    Analysts have warned that an uptick in volatility may be overdue. The Cboe Volatility Index
    VIX,
    +4.11%    ,
    a measure of expected volatility in the S&P 500 over the next 30 days, last week fell to its lowest since January 2020 and ended Friday below 14. Its long-term average stands near 20. The subdued performance, which has accompanied a year-to-date rally of more than 13% for the S&P 500 index, is taken by some market watchers as a sign of complacency.

    Read: Why the ‘easy money’ has been made in the stock-market rally — and what comes next

    Potential ‘nonevent’

    But the quick termination of the rebellion could make it more of a “nonevent” for capital markets as trading resumes, said Marc Chandler, managing director at Bannockburn Global Forex.

    While conventional wisdom sees signs of Putin’s weakness, the Russian leader has often been underestimated, he said.

    “The war in Ukraine is likely unaffected, and Kyiv’s counteroffense thus far seems rather muted. The risk is that the war escalates if Kyiv resorts to medium- and long-range missiles to hit Russian assets in Crimea, and possibly in Russia proper,” Chandler said.

    The rebellion, led by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, saw the mercenary paramilitary force take over Russia’s southern military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don amid little resistance before marching largely unchallenged toward Moscow. Putin, without mentioning him by name, accused Prigozhin of treason.

    The advance halted a little more than 120 miles from the capital before Prigozhin abruptly stood down in a deal that would see him sent to Belarus and charges against him of leading an armed rebellion dropped.

    As events unspooled Saturday, analysts warned that extended strife could spark a flight to quality when markets reopened into assets like U.S. Treasury bonds
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.720%    ,
    the U.S. dollar
    DXY,
    -0.14%
    and other havens like the Japanese yen
    USDJPY,
    -0.21%    ,
    Swiss franc
    USDCHF,
    -0.06%
    and gold
    GC00,
    +0.32%    .

    The dollar was little changed versus major rivals in the early going Sunday evening, while gold for August delivery
    GCQ23,
    +0.32%
    edged up 0.2%.

    All eyes on oil

    Meanwhile, commodity and financial markets have seen big swings since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

    First and foremost, the invasion produced a global energy shock. Russia was the world’s third-largest crude producer behind the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, and a key supplier of natural gas to Western Europe.

    Crude-oil futures soared in the immediate aftermath of the invasion, with the global benchmark Brent crude
    BRN00,
    +0.91%
    topping out just shy of $140 a barrel in early March 2022 after closing at $94.05 on the eve of the invasion.

    Natural-gas prices had also soared, and fears of shortages led to a scramble by European governments to fill storage amid apocalyptic predictions about a harsh 2022-’23 winter.

    Energy prices subsequently fell back. Crude oil is trading well below levels seen ahead of the invasion. And despite waves of sanctions by European and U.S. governments and price caps aimed at limiting Moscow’s ability to fill its coffers, Russian crude supplies remain robust.

    Oil prices were on the rise Sunday night, with WTI up 87 cents, or 1.3%, to trade at $70.03 a barrel, while Brent gained 91 cents, or 1.2%, to $74.76 a barrel.

    August Brent crude
    BRNQ23,
    +0.95%
    settled Friday at $73.85 a barrel, falling 3.6% last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery
    CL00,
    +0.91%    ,
    the U.S. benchmark, dropped 3.9% last week to end Friday at $69.16 a barrel.

    Jorge Leon, senior vice president at Rystad Energy, noted that in the past 35 years, geopolitical shocks involving big oil producers have seen crude futures jump by an average of 8% in the five days after the start of the triggering event (see chart below).


    Rystad Energy

    A rise of that magnitude looks unlikely given how quickly the rebellion was quelled, he said.

    “Given that the short-lived event this weekend in Russia appears to have ended, we do not expect to see such a significant increase in oil prices next week. We do, however, believe that the geopolitical risk amid internal instability in Russia has increased,” Leon said in emailed comments.

    —Barbara Kollmeyer contributed.

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  • U.S. stock futures little changed after short-lived Wagner mutiny in Russia; oil futures rise

    U.S. stock futures little changed after short-lived Wagner mutiny in Russia; oil futures rise

    U.S. stock-index futures opened near unchanged and attempted to edge higher Sunday night, as investors reacted to chaotic weekend events that saw a short-lived rebellion that pitted the mercenary Wagner Group against the Russian military leadership. After advancing to within around two hours of Moscow, the mutiny was abruptly halted, with Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin reportedly agreeing to depart for Belarus. Analysts said the events, while a potential plus for Ukraine 16 months after Russia’s invasion, appeared to weaken Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hold on the country, That raises concerns about the potential for further internal strife, a recipe for uncertainty that could feed volatility in financial markets. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    YM00,
    +0.09%
    rose 20 points, while S&P 500
    ES00,
    +0.10%
    futures ticked up 2.75 points and Nasdaq-100 futures
    NQ00,
    +0.16%
    edged up 11.25 points shortly after the start of electronic trading. Moves for all three contracts amounted to less than 0.1%. Stocks fell last week, with the S&P 500
    SPX,
    -0.77%
    snappng a streak of five straight weekly gains. Oil futures rose, with West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery
    CL.1,
    +1.26%

    CL00,
    +1.26%    ,
    the U.S. benchmark, up 48 cents, or 0.7%, at $69.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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  • What’s next for markets after aborted Wagner mutiny leaves Russia’s Putin weakened

    What’s next for markets after aborted Wagner mutiny leaves Russia’s Putin weakened

    Investors will start the week nervously sorting through the aftermath of a short-lived rebellion by the mercenary Wagner Group that’s seen leaving Russian President Vladimir Putin weakened.

    “As Monday’s global markets are set to begin trading, investors are laser-focused on whether the short-lived Russia insurrection was only the beginning of a much deeper thunderbolt set to rock geopolitical, economic and market stability in the days and weeks ahead,” Greg Bassuk, chief executive officer at AXS Investments in New York, told MarketWatch on Sunday in emailed comments.

    U.S. stock-index futures edged up after the start of electronic trading Sunday night, while oil rallied. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    YM00,
    +0.14%
    rose 75 points, while S&P 500 futures
    ES00,
    +0.12%
    edged up 0.2% and Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.3%.

    Global stocks fell last week as interest-rate hikes by European central banks stoked recession fears. In the U.S., the S&P 500
    SPX,
    -0.77%
    ended a streak of five straight weekly gains, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    -0.65%
    and Nasdaq Composite
    COMP,
    -1.01%
    also pulled back.

    See: Russia’s short-lived revolt could have long-term consequences for Putin, as questions remain over Prigozhin’s whereabouts

    ‘Real cracks’

    While a weakened Russia raises the prospects of a favorable outcome for Ukraine 16 months after Putin’s decision to invade, the potential for further internal strife in the nation with the world’s largest nuclear arsenal is less comforting, observers noted.

    “This raises profound questions. It shows real cracks,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning.

    Putin’s hold on power “certainly seems shakier than it was a few days ago,” but there remains “no clear contender to replace him, by election or coup,” said Benjamin Friedman, policy director at Defense Priorities, a foreign-policy think tank in Washington, D.C.

    Nonetheless, the war in Ukraine “is weakening Russia in various ways, including by creating internal strife and dangerously discontented elites who have some power,” Friedman told MarketWatch. “The perception of Putin’s fallibility and weakness is growing and creates its own reality. That is dangerous to him. It’s hard to predict what additional power grabs and instability that could create,” he said.

     See: Russia’s short-lived revolt could have long-term consequences for Putin, as questions remain over Prigozhin’s whereabouts

    ‘Bloodbath’ of volatility?

    AXS Investments’ Bassuk said the further turmoil “could drive a bloodbath of market volatility amid its impact on the war with Ukraine, a shifting balance among the G-8 superpowers, and the already heightened potential for a U.S. and global recession.”

    Analysts have warned that an uptick in volatility may be overdue. The Cboe Volatility Index
    VIX,
    +4.11%    ,
    a measure of expected volatility in the S&P 500 over the next 30 days, last week fell to its lowest since January 2020 and ended Friday below 14. Its long-term average stands near 20. The subdued performance, which has accompanied a year-to-date rally of more than 13% for the S&P 500 index, is taken by some market watchers as a sign of complacency.

    Read: Why the ‘easy money’ has been made in the stock-market rally — and what comes next

    Potential ‘nonevent’

    But the quick termination of the rebellion could make it more of a “nonevent” for capital markets as trading resumes, said Marc Chandler, managing director at Bannockburn Global Forex.

    While conventional wisdom sees signs of Putin’s weakness, the Russian leader has often been underestimated, he said.

    “The war in Ukraine is likely unaffected, and Kyiv’s counteroffense thus far seems rather muted. The risk is that the war escalates if Kyiv resorts to medium- and long-range missiles to hit Russian assets in Crimea, and possibly in Russia proper,” Chandler said.

    The rebellion, led by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, saw the mercenary paramilitary force take over Russia’s southern military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don amid little resistance before marching largely unchallenged toward Moscow. Putin, without mentioning him by name, accused Prigozhin of treason.

    The advance halted a little more than 120 miles from the capital before Prigozhin abruptly stood down in a deal that would see him sent to Belarus and charges against him of leading an armed rebellion dropped.

    As events unspooled Saturday, analysts warned that extended strife could spark a flight to quality when markets reopened into assets like U.S. Treasury bonds
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.727%    ,
    the U.S. dollar
    DXY,
    -0.11%
    and other havens like the Japanese yen
    USDJPY,
    -0.19%    ,
    Swiss franc
    USDCHF,
    -0.03%
    and gold
    GC00,
    +0.18%    .

    The dollar was little changed versus major rivals in the early going Sunday evening, while gold for August delivery
    GCQ23,
    +0.18%
    edged up 0.2%.

    All eyes on oil

    Meanwhile, commodity and financial markets have seen big swings since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

    First and foremost, the invasion produced a global energy shock. Russia was the world’s third-largest crude producer behind the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, and a key supplier of natural gas to Western Europe.

    Crude-oil futures soared in the immediate aftermath of the invasion, with the global benchmark Brent crude
    BRN00,
    +0.73%
    topping out just shy of $140 a barrel in early March 2022 after closing at $94.05 on the eve of the invasion.

    Natural-gas prices had also soared, and fears of shortages led to a scramble by European governments to fill storage amid apocalyptic predictions about a harsh 2022-’23 winter.

    Energy prices subsequently fell back. Crude oil is trading well below levels seen ahead of the invasion. And despite waves of sanctions by European and U.S. governments and price caps aimed at limiting Moscow’s ability to fill its coffers, Russian crude supplies remain robust.

    Oil prices were on the rise Sunday night, with WTI up 87 cents, or 1.3%, to trade at $70.03 a barrel, while Brent gained 91 cents, or 1.2%, to $74.76 a barrel.

    August Brent crude
    BRNQ23,
    +0.80%
    settled Friday at $73.85 a barrel, falling 3.6% last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery
    CL00,
    +0.69%    ,
    the U.S. benchmark, dropped 3.9% last week to end Friday at $69.16 a barrel.

    Jorge Leon, senior vice president at Rystad Energy, noted that in the past 35 years, geopolitical shocks involving big oil producers have seen crude futures jump by an average of 8% in the five days after the start of the triggering event (see chart below).


    Rystad Energy

    A rise of that magnitude looks unlikely given how quickly the rebellion was quelled, he said.

    “Given that the short-lived event this weekend in Russia appears to have ended, we do not expect to see such a significant increase in oil prices next week. We do, however, believe that the geopolitical risk amid internal instability in Russia has increased,” Leon said in emailed comments.

    —Barbara Kollmeyer contributed.

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  • Oil prices jump more than 2% after Saudi Arabia sets July production cut

    Oil prices jump more than 2% after Saudi Arabia sets July production cut

    Oil futures opened sharply higher Sunday evening, after Saudi Arabia agreed to deliver an additional 1 million–barrel daily production cut next month as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies moved to extend existing production targets.

    Price action

    • West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery
      CL00,
      +0.98%

      CL.1,
      +0.98%
      CLN23,
      +0.98%
      remained up $1.49, or 2.1%, at $73.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading as high as $75.06.

    • August Brent crude
      BRN00,
      +0.87%

      BRNQ23,
      +0.87%      ,
      the global benchmark, gained $1.59, or 2.1%, to trade at $77.72 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, after touching $78.73 after the open.

    Market drivers

    Saudi Arabia on Sunday said it would cut oil output by 1 million barrels a day in July, and that the reduction could be extended if needed. The announcement came as OPEC+ agreed to extend current production levels through the end of 2024 at a contentious meeting in Vienna.

    See: Saudis to cut oil production by 1 million barrels a day in July as OPEC+ extends output deal

    OPEC+ agreed last October to cut production by 2 million barrels a day. Some OPEC+ members in early April announced further cuts totaling 1.6 million barrels a day through year-end, including 500,000 barrels a day in reductions by Saudi Arabia.

    Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman last month warned that short sellers should “watch out” and that they would be “ouching” much as they did in early April, when the surprise cuts caused a sharp, but short-lived, spike in crude prices.

    The outcome of the meeting reinforces Saudi Arabia’s “uneasiness with the level of short positions in the market rather than signaling concerns around demand outlook,” said Giacomo Romeo, energy equity analyst at Jefferies, in a Sunday evening note to clients.

    “The open-ended part of the measure was likely put in place to discourage future short positioning,” he wrote.

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  • Saudis to cut oil production by 1 million barrels a day in July as OPEC+ extends output deal

    Saudis to cut oil production by 1 million barrels a day in July as OPEC+ extends output deal

    Saudi Arabia will voluntarily cut production by 1 million barrels a day in July, alongside an agreement by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to stick to production targets on Sunday.

    Describing the voluntary cut as a “Saudi lollipop,” the country’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, said the July reduction could be extended if needed.

    OPEC+ — the group made up of OPEC and its Russia-led allies — concluded a contentious meeting in Vienna, with members agreeing to extend previously agreed production cuts through the end of 2024. OPEC+ agreed last October to cut output by 2 million barrels a day and followed that in April with the surprise announcement of 1.6 million barrels a day in additional cuts.

    Oil prices have fallen sharply since the October reduction amid worries over the global economic outlook, with Brent crude
    BRN00,
    +0.35%    ,
    the global benchmark, down more than 20%. The surprise April cuts initially boosted prices, but gains were soon erased.

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  • European stocks break two-day declining streak

    European stocks break two-day declining streak

    European stocks finished higher Friday, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.34% to 469.00.

    The German DAX DAX increased 0.54% to 15,881.66, the French CAC 40 index CAC 40 Index increased 0.51% to 7,577.00 and the FTSE 100 index FTSE 100 Index increased 0.15% to 7,914.13.

    Among Stoxx Europe 600 constituents, health…

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