Crude Oil

What Mike Dolan, the ROI team and I are looking forward to reading, watching and listening to this weekend. Hello Morning Bid readers! The weakness of U.S. banks stocks is weighing down global equities this morning. Credit risks are on the rise following recent bankruptcies and negative announcements by two regional banks. Gold is on course for its best 17-year week, with an early Friday rise above $4,300. Mike Dolan, editor-at-large at ROI, asks if gold's incredible rise is the bubble that investors should worry about. The dollar index has moved in the opposite direction. Expectations of further Federal Reserve...

Sources in the trade said that two Indian refiners bought 4,000,000 barrels of Guyanese oil from Exxon Mobil, a U.S.-based major, to be delivered by the end of 2025, or early 2026. This is a rare import from the South American producer. Indian Oil Corp., the largest refiner in the country by capacity, purchased 2 million barrels (or a grade of crude oil called Golden Arrowhead) for its first purchase. The shipment will arrive late December or early January. Sources said that Hindustan Petroleum Corp., another refiner, had purchased Liza and Unity Gold for the first time. 2 million barrels...

Five sources said that an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management wanted to cut costs in Citgo Petroleum, a Venezuelan-owned refiner, while a unit from Gold Reserve was mainly focused on maintaining the statusquo. This is as the long auction which will determine the refiners' future approaches its end. The details of the competing visions of Citgo were revealed ahead of an auction to select the winner of PDV Holding, Citgo's parent. The Delaware court ordered the auction of shares to be held to pay for Venezuelan debt defaults, expropriations and other damages. The judge will decide next week who wins...

Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals in India is looking for alternative oil sources that are sold at a discounted price, while still hoping to buy Russian oil. This was the statement made by its managing director Mundkur S. Kamath on Wednesday. Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra modi assured him that India would stop purchasing oil from Russia. Russia is India's largest source of oil imports. Washington hopes to end the war in Ukraine by reducing revenue going to Moscow. Indian refiners are taking advantage of the reduced prices Russia is forced to accept after sanctions were imposed...

The stock market rose in most of Asia, and the chip sector was buoyant after a strong overnight rally by U.S. counterparts. Wall Street's strong start to earnings season also lifted the mood. The simmering trade tensions between Beijing, Washington and Tokyo increased the appeal of safe-havens such as gold (which reached a new record high) and the Japanese yen while undercutting dollar. Crude oil prices rose after U.S. president Donald Trump announced that Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi had promised to stop purchasing oil from Russia. This country supplies around one-third its imports. Nikkei gained 0.8% in Japan, as...

The oil prices increased by about 1% on Thursday morning after U.S. president Donald Trump announced that Indian Prime Minister Narendra modi had promised to stop purchasing oil from Russia. Russia supplies around one-third the country's imports. Brent crude futures increased 57 cents or 0.9% to $62.48 per barrel at 0046 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures (WTI) also gained 0.9% or 54 cents to trade at $58,81. The two contracts reached their lowest levels since early May, in the previous session due to the U.S.-China tensions. Also, the International Energy Agency had warned that a large surplus would be...

Kuwait's Oil Minister Tareq al-Roumi announced on Wednesday that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is planning to appoint one of the "top consultants" in the near future to assess the production capacities of member countries. OPEC+ Ministers requested OPEC headquarters to develop a method to determine the maximum sustainable production capability for each member. This will be used to establish their production baselines for 2027. The determination of the maximum production capability for each OPEC member or OPEC+ is controversial because some members, like the United Arab Emirates have increased their capacity and pushed the case for higher quotas....

Haitham Al Ghais, Secretary General of OPEC, reiterated Wednesday that oil and gas will continue to make up about 30% in the global energy mix until 2050. He said that a growing economy, population increase and urbanisation are all signs "that the world will require much more energy than what it consumes today", in his remarks at the Russian Energy Week Conference in Moscow. He predicted a 23% increase in the primary energy demand between 2050 and 2050. "Yes, the world is turbulent and there's much going on. But that's constant." "For us at OPEC, the constant is our ability...

The oil prices dropped in the early trading on Wednesday. This was a continuation of the losses made in the previous session. Investors weighed the warning from the International Energy Agency about a surplus supply in 2026, and the trade tensions between the U.S. and China that could affect demand. Brent crude futures dropped 12 cents or 0.19% to $62.27 a bar by 0021 GMT. U.S. West Texas intermediate futures also fell by 10 cents or 0.17% to $58.60. The previous trading session saw both contracts close at lows of five months. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said that the...

Wall Street ended Tuesday with mixed results and gold reached a new record high, as investors took into account the positive economic outlook from the International Monetary Fund Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Chair, against a resurgence of U.S.-China Trade Tensions The stock market lost momentum in the late session following U.S. president Donald Trump He posted on social media about his decision. Trade ties can be cut off The Dow recovered from an early sell-off and managed to make modest gains. Crude prices dropped, and the benchmark U.S. Treasury Yields eased. The S&P and Nasdaq ended the session in the...

Wall Street stocks were mixed Tuesday, and Treasury yields fell as investors weighed the upbeat economic outlook from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell with renewed U.S. China trade tensions. S&P 500, Dow and crude prices all fell sharply after the opening of the three major U.S. indexes. Gold prices, a safe haven, also jumped above $4,100 for the first time. The Nasdaq, which is dominated by tech stocks, remained modestly lower. Powell warned that the U.S. overall economy may be "on a slightly firmer trajectory than anticipated" in a speech he gave on Tuesday....

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said on Tuesday that she still expects the U.S. Central bank to deliver rate cuts at its two final policy meetings in 2025. Bowman told an audience in Washington that he still expects two more rate cuts by the end of the year. Last month, the Fed cut its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point. This was its first decrease in borrowing costs since December. The Fed's recent policy announcement showed that a small majority of policymakers believe more rate cuts are appropriate this year in light of the softening of the job market....

Wayne Cole gives us a look at what the future holds for European and global markets. Since the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party formed a coalition to form a government, the Takaichi Trade has been in full flow. This brings Japan closer to the first female Prime Minister. Analysts believe Sanae Takaichi will be in favor of stimulus and against any further interest rate hikes. This is a negative for the Japanese yen, but positive for stocks. The Nikkei jumped to an all-time record high of 2,9%, and the yen fell modestly. Even the ultra-long JGBs attracted...

China's crude output of steel fell to a 21-month low last September as mills struggled with a sluggish market and declining margins. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that the world's biggest producer of crude steel produced 73.49 millions metric tons of it last month. This is the lowest level recorded since December 2023. This was a 4.6% decrease from the previous year and a 5% drop compared to August's 77.37 millions tons. Calculations based on data show that the average daily production in September was 2,45 million tons. This is down from 2.5 millions tons in August....

The stock market retreated to all-time highs on Friday as strong corporate earnings offset the simmering U.S. China trade tensions. Meanwhile, the euro edged up as France's Prime Minister passed the first crucial vote of confidence. Gold's appeal as a safe haven showed no sign of waning, as it continued its record-breaking run. The dollar fell for a third consecutive day and oil climbed from soaring lows of five months after U.S. president Donald Trump announced that India had promised to stop purchasing oil from Russia. Europe's bond market cooled meanwhile after a rally lasting four days that drove regional...

Stocks were up across Asia on Thursday. The chip sector was buoyant after a strong overnight rally by U.S. counterparts, and the start of Wall Street's earnings period also lifted the mood. Meanwhile, trade tensions between Beijing & Washington grew and the dollar was undercut. After U.S. president Donald Trump announced that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to stop purchasing oil from Russia - which supplies around one-third its imports - the price of crude oil soared from a five-month low. Nikkei gained 1.2% in Japan, as shares related to chip and artificial intelligence boosted the index. The index...

Rae Wee gives us a look at what the European and global markets will be like tomorrow. Investors are choosing to ignore the simmering U.S. China trade tensions for now and instead take comfort from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks that hint at future rate cuts. The global stock market was once again optimistic on Wednesday. European futures pointed to a sharply increased opening, following a volatile session yesterday due largely to the trade whiplash. Powell may be to blame for the market's reprieve. His comments on Tuesday reaffirmed expectations of more easing in the coming year and a...

Asian stocks recovered in the early trading on Tuesday. There was a mixed recovery across regional equity markets, following signs that trade talks between the U.S. MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific share index outside Japan rose 0.5% last, while S&P 500 Futures gained 0.3%. This extended the recovery from Monday's Wall Street session after U.S. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent stated that U.S. president Donald Trump is still on track to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of October in South Korea. Wall Street's major indexes After Trump's more conciliatory remarks about the U.S. China trade tensions, chipmakers led to a...

The Nasdaq fell more than 2% on Friday, Treasury yields dropped and the U.S. Dollar weakened after President Donald Trump announced that he would be considering a "massive" increase in tariffs for Chinese goods. Trump stated that there is no need to meet China's President Xi Jinping as scheduled in South Korea in two weeks. He added in a Truth Social posting that the U.S. calculates a massive increase of tariffs on Chinese goods. Robert Pavlik is a senior portfolio manager with Dakota Wealth, Fairfield, Connecticut. He said, "He caught the market by surprise again and has thrown more questions...

Does China's crude oil stockpile have a positive or negative impact on the price of crude? There is no easy answer, because much of the information that the market relies on is simply unavailable. This leads to speculation and uncertainty. China doesn't disclose how much crude oil it stores in strategic and commercial reserves. It also doesn't state its ultimate goal for inventory. The market must rely on anonymous sources in the Chinese oil industry to provide a steady drip of information. While useful, this is not definitive about what China, the largest crude buyer, is doing. The number of...

The Asian stock market limped into the weekend on a weak footing, as Wall Street's declines continued through early trading. Commodity markets also took a break after their recent surge. The regional markets are on track to have one of the best years they've had in a decade. They outpace their U.S. counterparts, as President Donald Trump’s economic policies and tariffs trigger a surge of order across the region. Chris Weston of Pepperstone Group Ltd, Melbourne, said that the U.S. session was the moment when a number "well-subscribed and high-momentum" trades, including gold, cryptocurrency, silver, and a large part of...

Investors weighed the prospects for Japan's fiscal policy as major stock indexes slid on Thursday. The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Wednesday despite the ongoing U.S. shutdown, political risks in Japan and France, and other factors that have made investors nervous. On Thursday, the euro fell again against dollar. Investors weighed the potential impact of a Gaza ceasefire agreement on Middle East tensions with the stalled peace negotiations in Ukraine. Gold prices rose above $4,000 per ounce this week for the first. Last week, spot gold fell 0.41% to $4,021.19. Sanae Takaichi said that she didn't want...

On Thursday, the rally in European shares paused, as the FTSE 100 was dragged lower by banking stocks, and investors weighed the risks of a correction. Wall Street reached new record highs during the previous session as investors bet gains in technology shares, despite a U.S. shutdown that left traders without key economic data. Investors have been nervous about the U.S. government shutdown, political risks in Japan, and France this week. This has created a safe-haven market, which along with a weaker US dollar has pushed gold to $4,000 for first time. STOXX Down 0.2% On The Day At 1059...

Investors waited to see minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting on Wednesday, and gold continued its recent rally over $4,000 per ounce. A prolonged U.S. shutdown coupled with expectations for further U.S. rate cuts drove the demand for this safe-haven investment. Gold, traditionally seen as an investment during periods of uncertainty, has gained 54% this year, after having gained 27% in 2024. Gold spot was up last 1.41%, at $4,039.81 per ounce. U.S. gold contracts for December delivery were up 1.5%, to $4,063.70. Gold Fields shares, listed in the United States, rose 3.8%. The Japanese yen fell to its...