Energy exchange traded fund traders who are hoping for a rebound may have to get use to the idea of a depressed oil market with a possibility of further downside over the short-term.
On Wednesday, the United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO), which tracks West Texas Intermediate oil, declined 2.8%, trading to a new all-time low, and the United States Brent Oil Fund (NYSEArca: BNO) dipped 1.0%. Oil has been one of the worst performing areas of the market year-to-date, with USO falling 15.5% and BNO decreasing 16.8%. [Traders Fueling Oil ETFs’ Bearish Streak]
WTI crude oil futures were down 3.0% to $44.8 per barrel Wednesday while Brent crude futures were 1.7% lower to $48.8 per barrel.
For those with a high conviction of further weakness in the energy space, investors can consider inverse ETF options as a way to hedge. The United States Short Oil (NYSEArca: DNO) tracks the opposite moves of the West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil (NYSEArca: SCO) tries to reflect the two times inverse or -200% daily performance of WTI crude oil, VelocityShares 3x Inverse Crude (NYSEArca: DWTI) takes the three times inverse or -300% performance of crude oil, PowerShares DB Crude Oil Short ETN (NYSEArca: SZO) tracks the simple inverse of oil, and PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Short ETN (NYSEArca: DTO) takes also follows a -200% performance of oil. [Inverse ETF Plays for a Bearish Oil Outlook]
Year-to-date, DNO rose 16.1%, SCO increased 30.7%, DWTI jumped 46.8%, SZO advanced 11.5% and DTO surged 31.3%.
Barclays and Goldman Sachs have both downwardly revised their oil market outlook for the year, Reuters reports.
Specifically, Barclays cut its 2015 Brent crude oil price estimates to $44 a barrel from $72. Goldman now expects WTI crude oil to trade around $40 per barrel for most of the first half but believes WTI oil could recover to $65 per barrel and $70 for Brent