Wednesday, October 19, 2016

US Crude Oil Prices Trading near 15-Month High: What’s Next?

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November WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil futures contracts rose 0.8% and were trading at $50.32 per barrel in electronic trade at 5:25 AM EST on October 18, 2016. Crude oil prices could come under pressure due to high crude oilgasoline, and distillate inventories. For more on crude oil prices and the US dollar, read part one in this series.

US Crude Oil Prices Trading near 15-Month High: What’s Next?
US crude oil settled at $26.21 per barrel on February 11, 2016, the lowest level since 2003. As of October 17, 2016, prices were up 90.5% from their 2016 lows. Low crude oil and refined product prices have a negative impact on crude oil and gas producers’ earnings such as Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO), WPX Energy (WPX), and PDC Energy (PDCE).

The roller coaster ride in oil and gas prices also impacts funds such as the United States 12 Month Oil ETF (USL), the ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil (SCO), the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (UCO), the Direxion Daily Energy Bear 3x (ERY), the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP), and the Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE). 
 
US crude oil prices settled at $51.35 on October 10, 2016, the highest settlement since July 2015. Brent crude oil prices hit $53.73 per barrel on October 10, 2016, the highest level since October 9, 2015. As of October 17, 2016, US crude oil prices were down 2.7% from their 2016 highs.

For more on crude oil prices, read part one in this series. WTI oil prices have risen 15.8% on a year-to-date basis.

In the next part of the series, we’ll discuss OPEC’s upcoming meeting in November 2016.

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