Friday, January 22, 2010

Phil Flynn: They Are So Tired


They're so tired, they haven't slept a wink. They're so to tired, their mind is on the blink. They wonder if they should get up and fix themselves a drink but what they really are wondering where all the bullish momentum has gone. I mean come on it seemed like the oil bulls were on top of the world as the year started on such a bullish note. The bulls had their arguments like cold weather and China but with every passing day those arguments become more tired.

On the other hand the bearish case is wide awake. We have weak demand, ample inventories, rising OPEC and non OPEC production and questions about the continued growth in China oil demand. Now throw in some proposed new banking regulations that could zap demand and it's the bull's worst nightmare. No wonder they can't get any sleep. The bull market and the bulls are just downright tired.

The Energy Information Agency weekly report did not help out the bullish case. The EIA did report that oil supplies fell modestly (400,000 barrels) and that we had a big drop in distillates (3.3 million barrels) but are we not to expect that when the weather is cold? And we are still above the average range in both categories. At the same time we had a huge build in gasoline supply 3.3 million barrels and a historical low refining run rate of 78.4 % which just seems too scream out weak non-weather related demand.

Of course the oil bulls would tell you that it is not about US oil demand but demand from China. Yet is it possible that the oil demand story is not all it seems or at the very least the oil market got far ahead of the China demand story. I have been raising this issue for some time. Yesterday I warned that despite the fact of an explosive Chinese growth rate of 10.7%, the impact of China raising reserve rates and desperately reigning in credit could cause problems for the oil bulls.

I warned that even though it raised market fears, the Chinese government will take even more steps to reign in credit. I said that the market's reaction to the banking news could really be saying something more profound about how the market feels about the Chinese economy and even more, the health of the Chinese banking system as a whole.....Read the entire article.

So where do you start to trade crude oil, right here....Get 10 Trading Lessons FREE

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