China has yet again sent a shiver through oil market thinking that not even another force majeure in Libya will warm. The declaration on the El-Feel oil field actually gives breathing space for OPEC+ as it appears, in most opinion, to be on the path of bringing shuttered oil back to the market.
To paraphrase Churchill: We used to be undecided (about which way the market might go). Now we are not so sure. Equities did broadly well in August, the MSCI All-Country Index gained 1.62%. The S&P 500 Index jumped 2.28% higher but the tech-heavy Nasdaq struggled and settled only 0.65% up. It might be an ominous sign that the sector’s attraction is on the wane. A weaker dollar and retreating bond yields suggest that appetite for risk was healthy last month and economic prospects are sanguine.
Oil prices have endured a topsy turvy week where M1 Brent futures on Monday rallied $2.56/barrel to $81.58, spent the next two days giving nearly all back by dropping to a low of $77.95 on Wednesday, and sits almost mid-range at $80.00 at time of press. It is a short-term technician's nightmare and trade bias sees bulls being bears, bears being bulls in something of positional fluidity. Do not look now, but right-wing observers will accuse Brent of being woke. Levity aside, the lack of commitment in price and the feeling that whoever is left on the field of trading battle is either all in or all out thus creating herd-like moves.ecutive daily loss must have raised red flags. Tension in the Middle East and Eastern Europe must be supportive.
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