While we consider the PPI’s view of inflationary pressures as overstated by simple arithmetic and the math of commodities, there’s no denying that producer prices have risen by a substantial amount. The question, the whole issue, is why. If it is truly because price pressures are building and have grown close to breaking out in systemic fashion, then that would [...]
Like a child fixated on a shiny new toy, I was enthralled by trading in WTI futures on Monday. There are times when end-of-day closing prices just don’t capture the full extent of what actually goes on during the several hours of any regular session, and yesterday was certainly one of those times. We’ve been on top of front-end contango [...]
Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell rarely gives media interviews. Most of his interaction with journalists takes place in the carefully controlled – and credentialed – environment of post-meeting press conferences. One notable exception was last May when the Fed’s head guy visiting with 60 Minutes so that he could, pardon the expression, lie his ass off. Today, March 25, 2021, [...]
Is it a building case of/for selling the news? Another substantial down day in the oil market brings the total slide to just more than 13% (since March 5). Hardly anything earth-shaking on its own, not with the WTI front month futures contract gaining an impressive 85% since the end of October. During those four and a half months, the [...]
The SLR exemption is ending! The SLR exemption is ending! Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it? There has been rampant speculation the last few weeks about the fate of the exemption the Fed provided banks a year ago with regard to the Supplemental Leverage Ratio that allowed them to ignore Treasuries and reserves. The banks themselves warned that [...]
Well, that will get everyone’s attention, at least for now. Should something happen to the crude oil rocketship, there goes inflation. A day after the FOMC releases substantial upward revisions to inflation rates its models now project for this year, the NYMEX pits jump all over them with oil’s worst day since just after last April’s negative price turmoil. Before [...]
Oh, the irony. Recall Janet Yellen’s plight, circa early 2015. Oil prices were “unexpectedly” crashing raining on her recovery-like parade. The Federal Reserve, Yellen as its Chairman, was about to embark on an ambitious program of regular every-meeting rate hikes to head off, its models assumed, the coming inflationary bump which was to confirm full if belated monetary policy success. [...]
For a couple of weeks, the $600 payments from Uncle Sam seemed to have found their way into the tanks of Americans driving their automobiles a little bit more than they had. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the total amount of gasoline “supplied” by the domestic marketplace reached 8.4 mbpd the second week of February. Like retail [...]
This is a holiday-shortened week in the US but there is some important data on tap. Retail sales are expected to show a month-to-month rise for the first time since September. Year-over-year numbers remain pretty subdued and likely will until life returns to something resembling normal. Producer prices will likely rise but inflation continues its benign ways. It is likely [...]
The post-Pfizer vaccine rush pushed most of the contango out of the WTI futures curve. The aftermath of the Georgia Senate vote, and with it dreams of even larger, more carefree fiscal “stimulus”, drained all the rest. As of this week, the entire crude curve is once more contango-free; backwardation front to back.The physical markets have been able to fundamentally [...]
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