Very slow day. Up $700 in total from my early CL long and some ZB trades but really thought CL was going to be active today. Still holding that CL long from 53.69 but think any remaining longs will start to liquidate towards the close so it's not going to go higher.
Oil Pushes Above $54 A Barrel ---------- We're once again looking at a nice strong opening here in U.S. equity markets, on back of strong equities in Asia," said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn. "The dollar is also little bit weaker here against the euro. All that is helping support crude." Output cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have helped establish a price floor near $50 a barrel. As the cartel's May 28 policy meeting nears, most members would support a decision to keep output quotas unchanged because prices have stabilized, an OPEC official said Monday. Countries holding favoring the status quo include Angola, the holder of OPEC's presidency, and Saudi Arabia, its largest producer, the person told Dow Jones Newswires. At a March 15 meeting the group opted to keep the quotas unchanged, maintaining the 4.2 million barrels a day in cuts announced last year to counter falling demand and prices. A Dow Jones survey released Monday showed the cartel lowered crude production in April, increasing compliance to 84% from 83% the month before. The survey estimates daily output by the group's 11 members with production quotas, which exclude Iraq, fell 0.18%, or 45,000 barrels a day, from the previous month to 25.55 million barrels a day. "Production levels continue to be pretty much as we've seen them. There's still high discipline among Gulf producers," said Raja Kiwan, an analyst at PFC Energy. Prices also got a boost from data showing China's manufacturing activity expanded in April as government stimulus measures took effect, signaling a potential rebound for oil demand in the world's third-largest economy. The CLSA China PMI rose to 50.1 in April from 44.8 in March, the first time since July it has been above 50.0. A reading above 50.0 indicates expansion, while a reading below signifies a contraction.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Oil-ends-five-month-high/story.aspx?guid={F2DEA801-D68A-4775-8292-8B6D683B228D} Crude got a big boost from home sales data and China's PMI number," said Phil Flynn, vice president at Alaron Trading. It's also "following stocks higher." Stocks rose broadly on Wall Street, also lifted by the upbeat home sales data. So the oil market is torn between reacting to the threat of the âswine fluâ contracting demand versus the possibility that the economy in China is growing once again. Copper is flying and oil rebounding after the release of the China Purchasing Manager Index, a gage of the Chinese manufacturing sector. The CLSA rose to 50.1% showing expansion in a very bullish leading indicator to future energy demand in China. It seems the stimulus dollars being spent by the Chinese is having a positive impact on the Chinese economy and also a sign that global demand for China exports could be improving. Perhaps the impressive resilience of the oil market can be explained in part by this number. The government is scheduled to release the results on Thursday. The original release date was Monday. "We are somewhat apprehensive about price prospects for energy over the short term in light of the stress-test results due to be announced later this week," said Edward Meir, an analyst at MF Global. "Both the commodity and equity markets have already pushed substantially higher in response to the slight improvement in the macro statistics," Meir noted.
note: with today rise crude rose for a fourth straight session , 4 th straight day raises are only one or two occations in last two months . Some thing to notice .............. Crude-oil futures rose Monday for a fourth straight session, ending at the highest level in more than five months as U.S. home sales data and an upbeat report from China reinforced economic recovery hopes.
oil has been making it's move in the opening and just kinda sitting there, done it for a few days now. going to hold a short into tomorrow see if we retrace at all, we've pushed up quite fast. it looks like we'll face resistance at 55.90ish if we just keep heading up.