$76 Crude Oil, Yet Supplies are Adequate?
Energy Futures: Lead month October Crude Oil rose past the $76 level in early morning trade, as traders fear recent refinery outages may have crimped fuel supplies. Refinery utilization last week is expected to have fallen below the previous week’s 90.3% capacity rate, which would not bode well for increased supplies of Gasoline. Traders are gearing up for this morning’s weekly EIA energy stocks report, one day later than usual due to the Labor Day holiday. According to a Bloomberg survey, Crude Oil stocks may have fallen by 2.2 million barrels last week. Gasoline stocks were estimated to show a 1.3 million barrel decline. Next week’s OPEC meeting in Vienna is not expected to produce any policy changes in current output, as several Oil ministers have recently announced that the supply of Oil is adequate to meet current demand. In early trade, October Crude Oil is trading at $76.12, up $0.39, and October RBOB Gasoline is trading at $2.0070, up $0.0105.
Wheat: Profit-taking selling came into the Wheat market overnight, as prices eased off record highs made yesterday. However, Wheat tenders continue, with Japan purchasing 175,000 metric tons of milling Wheat from the U.S., Australia, and Canada this morning.
Australia continues to suffer from poor weather conditions, with South Australia state – the third largest producer for the country – now expected to produce nearly 25% less Wheat than previously expected. At the end of the overnight session, December Chicago Wheat was trading at $8.20 ¼, down 15 ¼ cents.
British Pound: September British Pound futures were trading slightly lower in early trade, after the Bank of England kept interest rates steady at 5.75%. This pause comes after 5 straight rate increases this year, and until recently many economists were looking for another increase to 6% by the start of the fourth quarter to help keep inflation in check. In early trade, September British Pound futures were trading at 2.0182, down 0.0021.
Mike Zarembski, Senior Commodity Analyst
Economic Data Scheduled for Thursday, September 6, 2007
(All times in U.S. Central Time)
U.S.
7:30 AM: Initial claims wk-9/1 (Consensus 330,000)
7:30 AM: 2nd qtr Productivity revised (Consensus 2.4%)
9:00 AM: ISM Services for August (Consensus 54.5)
9:30 AM: EIA Energy Inventories
