Wednesday, August 26, 2015

"Oil catches breath near six-and-a-half-year lows after falls"

Following up on Sunday's "Oil Price Decline May Be Due For a (Brief) Pause" and Monday's "Energy Stocks Approaching Fair Value (XLE; XOP)".
October WTI $39.33 up 2 cents.
XOP $32.99
XLE $60.08

From Reuters, Update Eight:
* Supply glut and China 'hard landing' fears weigh* API shows draw in U.S. crude oil inventories
* Phillips 66, Wood River refinery cooling tower collapses
* Coming Up: EIA stocks data at 10:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT) (Updates details, paragraphs 1, 12)
Oil stabilized on Wednesday after China moved to support the country's economy and stronger than expected U.S. durable goods data was released, but prices stayed near 6-1/2-year lows as a heavy supply glut kept market outlook bearish.
"Oil is catching its breath a bit and seeing if markets have been oversold or not," Capital Economics commodities economist Thomas Pugh said.

U.S. durable goods orders rose 2 percent in July, going against a 0.4 percent contraction forecast by the Reuters analyst consensus, U.S. government data said on Wednesday.

Brent LCOc1 was up 30 cents at $43.51 a barrel by 1300 GMT, and U.S. crude CLc1 was up 10 cents at $39.41 a barrel.

Oil has lost a third of its value since June on high U.S. production, record crude pumping in the Middle East and concern about falling demand in Asian economies.

On Monday, both crude oil benchmarks saw their lowest trades since early 2009, dropping as much as 6 percent in one session after heavy falls in equity markets.

"The trend remains down, but in an erratic phase where attempts to recover are being made," PVM Oil Associates director Robin Bieber said....MORE