Weekly outlook for Crude oil, Natural gas, Silver and Gold, 13th – 17th of Dec

The main reports to be issued up a head this week are mainly about the US economy and EURO economy that could provide insight on how the prices of major commodities such as crude oil prices and silver prices will be affected. The repots include the following (all times GMT):

  1. Monday 13th of December tentative (postponed indefinitely) – Publishing the US Treasury Currency Report by the Department of Treasury: This report which is published twice a year provides information and analysis such as economic policies and economic conditions, on the US and major countries. Last time the report (July 2010) showed that the US is still on a high unemployment rate of 9.5%, however it did show an economic growth of an average 3.5% per quarter (annual basis), which was higher then the weighted-average of 2.4% of the other G7 countries. This report could provide insight into the economic growth and stability of major countries and thus inform us how their condition could affect commodities prices. For the previous report check in this link;
  2. Wednesday 15th of December 15.30PM – EIA report about Crude oil inventories: The EIA will issue its weekly report about the changes in the US inventories of crude oil and crude oil related products, such as gasoline and propane. These data will help understand the fluctuations in the crude oil prices and the changes in the demand for crude oil. Last week’s report showed a fall of 0.3% in the crude oil stocks, which is a drop of over 5.3 million barrels of crude oil. for last week’s report check out this link;
  3. Thursday 16th of December 13.30PM – Department of Labor report about US unemployment claims: The weekly report will show the unadjusted and seasonally adjusted data of last week’s unemployment claims. For the week ending on 4th of Dec, the report showed a decrease in initial claims of 17,000, settling on 421,000 claims; and for the week ending on 27th of Nov there was a decrease in insured unemployment figures of 4.4%, reaching 4.277 million. As this is one of the indicators for the US economy’s condition, if the report this week will show a further progress and recovery in the US economy, it could continue to swing around investors into the US; consequentially, this may increase the value of the US compare to major currencies and could reduce the appeal of commodities and thus decrease their price.
  4. Thursday 16th of December 15.30PM – EIA report about Natural gas storage: The EIA (Energy Information Administration) will issue its weekly report about the changes in the number of cubic feet of natural gas held in storage compare to the previous week in the US. This repot has an effect not only on the natural gas market in the US, but also in Canada (a major player in this market). The Natural Gas Working Underground Storage showed last week a decrease of 2.3% from the previous week and reached 3,725 (Billion Cubic Feet) for all lower 48 states. for last week’s report check out this link;
  5. Friday 17th of December 10.00PM – Eurostat Report on Euro Trade Balance: The release will be of October data about the Euro (27 countries) foreign trade. For the last report about September showed a trade balance surplus of 2.9 billion euro, a rise of 1.5 billion euro compare to September 2009. However, the EU27 report showed an increase in deficit for energy since during January-August 2010 there was -190.7 bn euro deficit, compared with -152.2 bn for the same period in 2009;

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