Oil exchange traded funds (ETFs) are up as oil futures settled at a new record of $90.46 a barrel on news that OPEC production increases aren’t coming as fast as expected. Also pushing up oil futures is the fact that the cartel won’t announce new output quotas when it meets next month.
Traders are focused on the conflict between Turkey and Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, which led an Iraqi lawmaker on Thursday to threaten to cut off oil exports to Turkey and also between Iran and the U.S. Crude oil stockpiles in the U.S. are at a nine-month low, report Elizabeth Landau and Matt Chambers for The Wall Street Journal. Yesterday, crude prices jumped sharply after the Energy Information Administration reported that oil inventories fell by 5.3 million barrels last week, which is much more than analysts expected, reports John Wilen for the Associated Press.
The futures-based United States Oil (USO) and iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN (OIL) ended up about 3% today in response. Year-to-date, USO is up 31.7%, and OIL is up 32.1%.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.