The second day of the week, presented weakness for most of the energy commodities; precious metals, on the other hand, showed some strength as gold and silver prices rose.
Let’s quickly review the changes in major energy commodities market and precious metals for February 8th:
Oil and Gas prices:
Crude oil price (WTI spot) fell for the fourth straight business day, yesterday it declined by 0.62% as it settled on 86.94 $/b.
Brent spot price, on the other hand, bounced back to reach 100.08$/b, an increase of 0.97%.
During the month of February, WTI spot prices declined by 2.9%, while Brent spot declined by only 0.3%.
As a result, the spread between the WTI and Brent spot prices has further widen and it’s currently 13.14$/b – the widest spread since February 2009 (for more about figuring out the spread between WTI and Brent oil see here).
The news update on the Egyptian turmoil: today, there was a huge demonstration in Tahrir square, Cairo, where hundreds of thousands of people called for the immediate resignation of President Mubarak.
Nevertheless, the effect this news has on the oil market has seems to subside for now (for more on the Egyptian turmoil and its effect on crude oil price, see here).
Natural gas prices continue to fall as the winter season subsides; however, the NY city gate price rose yesterday for the second straight day, yesterday it fell by over 32% due to the snowfall in the Northeast.
The snow is expected to continue south today and tomorrow.
Natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) declined for third straight business day, yesterday by 1.85%, as it reached 4.24$/mmbtu – the lowest level since December 2010.
The backwardation (the spread between the future and spot prices) for Henry Hub is currently -0.14$/mmbtu. This could present an indication of the market expecting the price of natural gas to decline next month – upon the expiry of the March futures.
Precious Metals prices:
The precious metals market is making a small comeback:
Gold price inclined yesterday by 1.18%, as it reached 1,364 $/t oz.
Silver prices also increased yesterday by 3.16% and reached 30.27$/t oz.
EURO/ USD inclined yesterday by 0.31%, on the other hand, the USD strengthened against the CAD, as the USD/CAD inclined by 0.44%. For a more detailed report on the forex daily outlook check out Forex crunch.
A summary of yesterday’s Prices Changes:
The following table presents the main descriptive data from last business day – February 8th, 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):
- Weekly outlook for Crude oil, Natural gas and Gold 7-11 February
- Is gold a safe heaven investment compare to S&P500
- Examining the Fed’s policy and its potential effect on oil prices
Yearly Analysis and Outlook: