Tag: energy investing

An Oil Stock to Ride Out the Looming Recession

Posted on by The INO.com Team

At the moment, the oil market is much like the famous quote from the beginning of “A Tale of Two Cities.”

It is a tale of two markets: the futures market for oil (controlled by Wall Street) and the physical market, which reflects the real-world demand for oil. Both factor in many dynamics inputs, notably whether we’re actually heading into a recession.

Which Tale to Believe?

The price of oil dropped by about $15 a barrel in a few days in the futures market, thanks to recession worries. That pushed the global benchmark Brent crude oil price below $100 per barrel for the first time since April.

However, in the real world, there is no sign of a slowdown in demand for oil. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

Premiums for the immediate delivery of oil are at record levels. For example, Nigerian Qua Iboe crude oil was offered at $11.50 a barrel above Brent, while North Sea Forties crude was bid at Brent-plus-$5.35—both all-time highs!

Here in the U.S., WTI-Midland and WTI at East Houston traded in June at a more than a $3 premium to U.S. crude futures, the highest in more than two years. And though both grades of oil have since edged off those highs, they are still trading more than 60% higher than at the start of June. Continue reading "An Oil Stock to Ride Out the Looming Recession" →

Technical Analysis Toolkit for Energy Investors

Posted on by admin

The Energy Report: Energy prices are very sensitive to international events, especially conflicts in the Middle East. Do your charts factor in the periodic crises that impact oil and gas prices as buy and sell moments? How do you factor in inflation and interest rate movements into your calculations about which energy juniors look like good buys at any given time?

Clive Maund: The charts do factor in periodic crises that impact oil and gas prices as buy and sell moments, but often in a contrary way. The trick is to gauge when a crisis is at its moment of greatest tension, and while this is not at all easy, the charts can often be a great help in defining such a moment. I will give you an example using a recent call on CliveMaund.com, where the top in oil was pinpointed a day after its occurrence. Some readers may remember an old saying used on the London market many years ago, "Buy on a strike." This refers to a strike by labor, not an oil strike. The underlying psychology of this was that the time of maximum tension and uncertainty, which was when labor unions called the workers out on strike, was the best time to buy stocks, because they would have been falling in anticipation of this, and as tensions later eased as the situation headed to resolution, they would rise again. So it is with conflict and tension situations in the Middle East and their impact on the oil markets. Continue reading "Technical Analysis Toolkit for Energy Investors" →