CWEI closed @ 17 3/8, -1/16, Bid 17 3 /8 X Ask 17 5/8..Vol 35K
After year profit taking, and a very down day on the market, had pushed CWEI to 17 X 17 1/2 it closed strong at 17 3/8 X 17 5/8. There is excellent support at 17 1/4.
February Futures Prices
Oil $25.92, up 0.55 (CWEI rcvd $21.19 in Q3)
Gas $2.76, up 0.08 (CWEI rcvd $2.62 in Q3)
>>>Crude-oil and petroleum-products futures closed sharply higher Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
February crude oil rose 55 cents to settle at $25.92 a barrel, setting a new contract high.
March crude climbed 57 cents to $25.24 a barrel. Among petroleum products; January heating oil jumped 2.27 cents to 72.84 cents a gallon.
January unleaded gasoline climbed 1.06 cent to 70.67 cents a gallon.
February crude surged to a new lifetime high of $25.97 Tuesday in the last 45 minutes of Nymex 1996 trade, in what most market players had predicted would be a quiet, abbreviated trading session before the New Year's holiday.
The volatility wasn't unexpected, given pre-holiday volumes and the
expiration of the January products' contracts, but most analysts said the sharp gains in both crude and heating oil and the strength in gasoline caught them by surprise. "Just when you think it's going to be a quiet day, these type of things happen," said Tom Bentz, director of the energy division with ING Derivatives Clearing Inc. "I was expecting we'd do nothing today."
Another analyst agreed. "You got me," said Bill O'Grady, an analyst with A.G. Edwards, said of the reason for the day's gains. But they, and other market players, went on to say that three news stories
about the Middle East and short-covering before the products' expiration may have helped move the market. The stories included news of tougher security by Saudi Arabia for U.S. military installations; the rollover of United Nations sanctions on Iraq; and Turkish pursuit of Kurdish rebels into northern Iraq.
Bentz said February crude's move above its previous contract high of $25.55, set Monday, appeared to begin after the rollover of the U.N. sanctions against Iraq.
For the 35th time since Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, the U.N.
Security Council maintained international trade sanctions against Iraq in a routine, 60-day review. The action doesn't alter the U.N.-Iraq oil-for-food sale, which is an exemption to the sanctions.
O'Grady said the Saudi story, which was actually out before the market opened, might have been a greater factor behind the bullish sentiment. "The Saudis are actually admitting that they're getting a lot of threats and starting to take them seriously," O'Grady said. "That's a big deal."
The Nymex will be closed Wednesday in observance of New Year's Day. February natural gas ended up 8.0 cents at $2.757 per million BTUs.<<<<< |
