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Dian L. Chu submits:
Sentiment in the crude oil market has been quite pessimistic lately after some disappointing economic data fueling fear over the strength of the U.S. recovery, and signs of a possible China slowdown. This is on top of the market distress already exerted by the European sovereign debt and banking crisis. Oil price was down 8% for the week, with the front-month August delivery settled at $72.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Complete Story »

Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit:
Below we highlight our trading range charts for ten major commodities. For each chart, the green shading represents between two standard deviations above and below the commodity's 50-day moving average. Moves above or below the green shading are considered overbought or oversold. Oil has bounced off of oversold levels in recent days, but it is still closer to the bottom of its trading range than the top. Natural gas, on the other hand, continues to surge higher, and it is now trading well into overbought territory. Gold remains in a strong uptrend, and it is pretty close to the top of its range. Platinum really sold off sharply when equity markets took their dive, and it is just now starting to recover. Silver is just about in the middle of its range.Complete Story »

Tom Lydon submits:

Oil-related ETFs have come and some have gone, with interest and popularity backing the ones still around while setbacks or disappointments struck others. Desipite the lack of physically-backed oil ETFs, investors may still choose from several futures-backed ETFs or exchange traded notes (ETNs).Oil ETNs, like regular stocks, are taxed depending on short-term or long-term capital gains rates, with gains or losses taxed at 60% long-term and 40% short-term, writes Don Dion for TheStreet. An investor should also note that this investment vehicle is subject to the credit worthiness of the financial institute issuing the security. (Disclaimer: We aren’t tax experts, and you should consult your tax expert on tax issues concerning your investments.)Complete Story »

Ivan Kitov submits:A month ago we presented a forecast for oil price. It’s time to revisit the price. All our estimates are based on the existence of long-term sustainable trends in the differences between various subcategories of the producer price index (PPI). The concept and numerous forecasts is published in this paper. The dry residual is that the producer price indices evolve along straight lines, with all deviations from the trend cancelling themselves out over relatively short periods of several months.Figure 1 present the case of crude petroleum (domestic production) for the period between 2007 and 2012. We have predicted that the difference between the overall PPI and the index for oil has been on an upward trend since 2009. This means than the PPI will grow faster than the index of oil, the latter likely to fall into 2016 down to the level of ~75.Complete Story »

Thomas Pan submits: This May has been brutal to the stock markets, as Kopin Tan of Barron’s put it: By the end of May, they (investors) had yanked nearly $30 billion from stock mutual funds — a one-month flight from risk that surpassed the $25 billion withdrawn in February 2009, or the $26 billion pulled in March 2009. That was just before this bull run began and when the economic outlook was far grimmer.Complete Story »

Tom Lydon submits:

Oil-related exchange traded funds have come and some have gone, with interest and popularity backing the ones still around while setbacks or disappointments struck others. Despite the lack of physically-backed oil ETFs, investors may still choose from several futures-backed ETFs or ETNs.Oil ETNs, like regular stocks, are taxed depending on short-term or long-term capital gains rates, with gains or losses taxed at 60% long-term and 40% short-term, writes Don Dion for TheStreet. An investor should also note that this investment vehicle is subject to the credit worthiness of the financial institute issuing the security. (Disclaimer: We aren’t tax experts, and you should consult your tax expert on tax issues concerning your investments.)Complete Story »

Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit:
Below we highlight our trading range charts for ten major commodities. For each chart, the green shading represents between two standard deviations above and below the 50-day moving average. Moves above or below the green zone are considered overbought or oversold. As shown, oil and copper both moved into oversold territory over the past couple of weeks as global equity markets pulled back. Conversely, gold and silver moved higher to overbought territory. Platinum remains in an uptrend and is currently right in the middle of its trading range. Natural gas, corn, and wheat remain in long-term downtrends, while coffee and orange juice have been moving sideways lately.Complete Story »

Hard Assets Investor submits: By Charles ArmstrongThe value of a nation's currency has tremendous effect upon its standing in global trade. Sure, a strong currency is good for a country's purchasing power, but it also hurts exports, due to the relatively higher prices consumers in other nations must pay for their goods (priced, of course, in the exporting nation's currency).Complete Story »

Dian L. Chu submits:
The RBOB gasoline contract finished the week very strong, and was the main driver for crude oil`s stellar bounce off the eurozone downgrade which sparked a sell off earlier in the week. Crude oil rose to a three-week high and gasoline surged as a report showed the U.S. economy grew 3.2% in the first quarter on strong consumer and business spending. Crude oil for June delivery closed at $86.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange [NYMEX), the highest settlement price since April 6. Futures climbed 2.9% in April for a third straight monthly gain. Gasoline for May delivery also climbed 1.7% to $2.3963 a gallon, the highest settlement since Sept. 30, 2008. Complete Story »

James Shell submits:In 7 out of the 10 years between 2000 and 2009, the price of the front month WTI contract for crude oil was higher on the last day of May than on the first. Reason: Typical seasonal refinery demand before the spring planting and summer driving seasons.Complete Story »