Via Energy and Gold.com: A set of quotes on oil from some people in high places from Bloomberg Briefs: There are some observations and deductions to be made from this set of quotes. Possibly the person to gain the most from higher oil prices, the CEO of Russia’s VTB Bank, says that $60-$80 is the range… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Tomorrow morning (North American time) the ECB will make its much awaited announcement which is almost sure to include some form of quantitative easing program. A series of leaks this morning, the most market moving of which was reported by Bloomberg, disagrees on the size and duration of the program to… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: From Bloomberg Briefs: Iraqi oil production has absolutely exploded during the last 6 months to now more than 4 million barrels of oil per day. This is occurring even as ISIS continues to conduct its insurgency throughout much of the country. Moreover, Iraq plans to continue to boost exports of its… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com Morgan Stanley is out with some interesting research this morning highlighting the strong positive correlation between copper and oil prices: Aside from the fact that both commodities are greatly affected by global economic growth there is another important factor as to why the oil price can end up having a large… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Crude oil futures have shot up more than $4/barrel this morning after a shock move by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to remove the Swiss franc peg to the euro: The rally which began on Tuesday now totals 17% and, sadly enough for oil bulls, happens to be the largest percentage rise… Continue Reading

  This is the worst time of year for world oil prices to hit a five year low for North American energy producers. That’s because they typically evaluate their reserves at fiscal year-end—and that usually matches the calendar year. That means reserve evaluations are done with the current price “deck” looking forward (often called “strip… Continue Reading

In case you were under a rock, oil just got crushed. It has dropped close to 50% and most of that was in just the last three months. Let’s pause there. Consider if this happened with another resource, say if the gold price suddenly dropped 50% from the current price of $1,200/oz to $600/oz in… Continue Reading

At first sight, the following chart is pretty jaw dropping: WTI Crude Oil (spot) vs. XLE Thus far in the month of December WTI crude oil is down more than 22% while the XLE (SPDR Energy ETF) is up 1%! This tremendous outperformance by the large integrated energy companies that comprise the XLE (Chevron, Exxon… Continue Reading

It’s a bit of a tradition among market commentators to come up with a list of ‘surprises’ for the new year. Some of us like to combine both macro/geopolitical events with market events. I have decided to limit my 6 surprises to market events as that is my area of expertise and the primary focus of… Continue Reading

From the McClellan Report: “….the 2008-09 drop in stock prices saw an echo in the 2013 drop in gold prices, which has now had its further echo in 2014 for crude oil prices.  There is a similarity in the way that investors panic out of their holdings in each, and that common physics/psychology shows up… Continue Reading

Given a 50% drop in crude oil prices during the last 6 months you might expect a significant washout in net speculative length (# of long contracts minus number of short contracts of both large & small speculators) in crude oil futures. You would be wrong… The shocking fact is that not only has net speculative… Continue Reading

An excerpt from the latest Howard Marks gem (The Lessons of Oil): “Further, it’s hard for most people to understand the self-correcting aspects of economic events. A decline in the price of gasoline induces people to drive more, increasing the demand for oil. A decline in the price of oil negatively impacts the economics of… Continue Reading

We just completed the worst week for the S&P 500 since May 2012 and there are more warning signs out there across markets than there are Christmas lights on my neighbor’s house. However, every time things have begun to look bleak this equity bull has picked up its horns and trampled over anyone who has dared to… Continue Reading

Like it or not, we are all Internet marketers now. Chances are you own a domain name or two and even host a web site for your business, hobby or personal brand. About five years ago, I set up a shared server to help a few family, friends and non-profits host web sites. One of… Continue Reading

Today we share some real estate porn via Tiburon, California speculator and writer Thom Calandra’s Facebook page. Surely there’s a tech founder in the Bay Area who wants to own this truly spectacular $49 million pad that belongs to mining tycoon Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines – TSX:IVN (I own shares). Mr. Friedland… Continue Reading