Oil Markets Find Optimism Amidst Debt Ceiling Talks, as Short Sellers Face Saudi Energy Minister’s Warning and OPEC+ Meeting Looms
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Optimism over the debt ceiling talks finally being resolved provided support to the oil markets last week. Both benchmark crude futures gained over 1% which was the second consecutive week of gains. However the prevailing headwinds still remain as traders seem more focused these days on things that make you go hmmmm. Truth, short sellers continue betting on conditions worsening. Of course, the Saudi Energy Minister seems to be watching too many Clint Eastwood movies these days with verbal jousting aimed at short sellers: “Speculators, like in any market they are there to stay, I keep advising them that they will be ouching, they did ouch in April, I don’t have to show my cards I’m not a poker player… but I would just tell them watch out”. Honestly, we have no clue what “ouching” is or what it might look like although it might be something like stepping on Legos. Brent crude futures settled at $77.07 a barrel, while U.S. WTI crude was up 25 cents, or 0.3%,at $72.92 a barrel during holiday trading. It’s obvious that Russia is going to want to keep pumping, teeing up an interesting OPEC+ meeting scheduled for next Sunday.
Ford has struck a deal with Tesla allowing their customers to have access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada, which will double the number of fast chargers available to Ford vehicles by this time next year. When The Tank Tiger drives up the Merritt Parkway on the way to Cape Cod, we stop at the Mobil station for a Dunky and a Subway. As we drive away we watch the people patiently “quick charging” their EVs and usually they are all sad. Speaking of gas money, the stock market seems to be poised for a summer rally. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is now at its highest level since August, despite inflation numbers that were higher than expected. The Nazzy climbed 2.5% for a fifth straight week of gains with Nvidia (NVDA) carding the single biggest one-day market cap rise in the history of the market, behind a cra cra earnings report. Their conference call confirmed that because of AI demand specifically, the company had obliterated its earnings targets. AI seems to be both real and spectacular. The May jobs report comes out on Friday. A slight increase in unemployment might provide a hand brake for Fed hikes, but then again Chairman Powell seems to be enjoying his TV time these days and maybe he still wants to give the economy a little more ouching.
