Fueling Strategy: Please plan for tomorrow’s wholesale drop of 2.5 cents, partial only tonight – Be Safe Today!
NYMEX Crude $ 47.85 UP $1.5200
NY Harbor ULSD $1.4711 UP $0.0419
NYMEX Gasoline $1.5100 UP $0.0333
NEWS
Oil futures finished higher for the first time in three sessions on Tuesday, rebounding from a Brexit-fueled selloff that sent crude futures to a seven-week low on concerns of a slowdown in the global economy.
The threat of a union strike by Norwegian oil-and-gas workers and weakness in the U.S. dollar also provided support to prices. Natural-gas prices, meanwhile, got a weather-related boost, with volatility tied to expiration of the July futures contracts, which rallied by more than 7%, helping to exacerbate the move. August West Texas Intermediate crude climbed $1.52, or 3.3%, to settle at $47.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while August Brent crude gained $1.42, or 3%, to $48.58 a barrel. On Monday, WTI crude settled at its lowest level in more than a week, while Brent finished at its worst level in about seven weeks as investors dumped energy as part of a wider global selloff in the wake of the unexpected U.K. vote last week to leave the European Union, dubbed Brexit.
Markets stabilized a bit on Tuesday, with the pound stopping its slide, and European stocks and U.S. equities posting firm gains. “These markets had been severely oversold, so a bounce was overdue anyway, while hopes have also risen about the prospects of a more coordinated central bank response to support the financial markets,” said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at Forex.com. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index also fell 0.3%, offering a boost to dollar-denominated oil. “An easing in [U.S. dollar] strength is serving to buoy the all-important commodities space while some cautious optimism is creeping back into the new trading week,” said analysts at Accendo Markets in a note. “Expect economists’ outlooks over the coming days and weeks to dictate the direction of oil, however, a longer term slowdown in demand is seen as unlikely,” they added. In the U.S., data showed that consumer confidence took a step higher in June, though the figures covered a time before the Brexit vote.
Oil supply issues also factored into Tuesday trading as up to 7,500 oil-and-gas workers in Norway, which is one of Europe’s major producers, may be affected by a strike starting Saturday. The workers are demanding a new wage deal before midnight July 1, The Wall Street Journal reported. The American Petroleum Institute will release weekly data on U.S. petroleum supplies late Tuesday, while the Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report early Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts expect to see a fall of 2.4 million barrels in crude-oil inventories, along with declines of 600,000 for gasoline supplies and 1 million barrels for distillates, which include heating oil.