The oil complex was mixed on Friday as traders bought back short holdings in crude and kicked out long positions in refined products. The movement came mostly at the end of the day, and there was a mild urgency for traders to get out of positions before the holiday-extended weekend. [More]

Oil prices shot higher yesterday in the fifth biggest one-day gain in 2009. Despite the four days with larger gains, this one seemed to have a much more solid feel to it, and it did not seem like a short-covering ‘flash-in-the-pan.’ That does not mean that it will follow through on its own promise, but it was certainly an auspicious looking start to a move higher, which is what it appears to be on the charts. [More]

It was another rollercoaster session yesterday, with oil prices starting out moving lower. As it turned out in yesterday’s trading, oil prices were primarily following equities. And equities started out weakly before finding hope from comments made by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who testified yesterday in front of the US Senate. [More]

The oil complex was lower yesterday as traders anticipated fresh economic trouble ahead. Prices finished yesterday’s session nearer the day’s lows than highs after an initial burst of hope faded that government measures to shore up the banking system could work. Earlier yesterday, there had been reports that the government could end up owning as much as 40% of Citicorp. [More]

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Gold prices broke back above $1,000/ounce on Friday, but oil prices and gold have not been traveling companions for a while, now. Still, over their roughly 25 to 35-year history of trading on open markets (prior to 1974 Americans were not allowed to buy gold, and crude started freely trading in 1983), oil and gold have taken their cues from each other more often than not. Gold is seen as a safe haven, now, but it is also seen as a store of value against inflation, which is something oil has been used for, as well. Gold’s major moves are of more than just passing interest to oil traders. [More]

The drawdown in crude oil stocks may be what grabbed traders’ attention yesterday. It was unexpected, and came as the result of a rare combination of higher refinery utilization rates and lower crude oil imports. But, yesterday’s crude oil drawdown masked a much bigger story, for our money. That much bigger story was the increase in demand aggregates against year-earlier numbers. [More]

Oil markets were under selling pressure for most of yesterday’s session, although they did rally towards the end of the regular session as traders covered shorts ahead of this week’s inventory statistics, starting with last night’s API figures. In overnight trading last night, traders were talking about this week’s API figures and about the possibility or growing likelihood of fresh Opec production cuts. [More]

The oil complex dropped sharply yesterday, with heating oil prices leading the collapse. March heating oil prices fell to their lowest level since September, 2004, falling below the key support established in December, 2008. Crude oil and gasoline prices were also lower, although they did not break their December support figures. [More]

March crude oil prices rallied substantially on Friday as traders bought March and sold deferred months, starting further away and working back to April, which was down the least but was still lower. With it being the last three-day weekend for a while, traders were covering shorts aggressively, and the biggest concentration of shorts was in the expiring March crude oil contract. [More]