Following the news from Egypt in which President Hosni Mubarak announced he won’t seek another term in presidency, it seems that the pressure in the energy markets has subsided a bit as WTI crude oil price declined, while Brent oil continues its rally. Today the EIA will publish its report on petroleum stocks, production and consumption.
Let’s check the changes in major energy commodities market and precious metals for February 1st:
Oil and Gas prices:
Crude oil price (WTI spot) after sharply rising on Monday by 3.19%, mainly due to the turmoil in Egypt, yesterday it declined by 1.54% as it settled on 90.77 $/b; Thus, it seems this price continues its downward trend which it had for most of the month of January.
Brent oil (spot price) on the other hand, continued its rally and inclined by 1.24% to break the 100$ mark and reached 101.01$/b.
As a result, the spread between the WTI and Brent spot prices has widen and it currently 10.24$/b – for more about figuring out the spread between WTI and Brent oil see here.
Egypt: In yesterday’s protest, which took place in Tahrir square, Cairo, the Egyptian protestors called for President Hosni Mubarak to immediately resign. As a result, Mubarak addressed his nation and said he won’t seek another term in his presidency and will de facto resign in a few months until after the general elections will be held. The pressure in the Middle East, following this announcement, has subsided.
The Egyptian riots, following Mubarak’s announcement didn’t subside as the people of Egypt want him to resign affective immediately, and the uncertainty in the region is still high, but not worsen for now.
The implications on crude oil prices seem to decline as well: Bloomberg reported that oil transit via Suez Canal is in no jeopardy.
The main news pertaining WTI crude oil price has moved on to the report by the EIA on petroleum stocks, production and consumption in the US, which will be published later on today. The exceptions are that the report will show a rise in oil stocks. In the last report from last week, petroleum stocks have increased for the third straight week, by 0.1%, an increase of nearly 2.3 million barrels of crude oil to reach 1,795 million barrels (see here last week’s EIA report review).
Natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) after it increased by 3.26% on Monday, it fell yesterday by 0.23%, as it reached 4.42$/mmbtu.
Precious Metals prices:
Gold price, has moderately inclined by 0.43%, as it reached 1,340 $/t oz.
Silver prices, also inclined yesterday by 1.22% and reached 28.51$/t oz.
EURO/ USD, after the turmoil in the Middle East has subsided, continue its rally yesterday to increase by 1%, the USD also weakened against the AUD, as the USD/ AUD inclined by 1.34%. For a more detailed report on the EURO/USD check out Forex crunch.
A summary of yesterday’s Prices Changes:
The following table presents the main descriptive data from last business day – February 1st, for precious metals, energy commodities and exchange rates. The table includes: settled prices, daily percent change, and quantitative change in US dollars (except for USD/CAD, in which the change is in Canadian dollars):
For further reading (in this site):