Rigzone: Crude Oil Slips Below $80

Crude oil futures extended losses Tuesday after the Federal Reserve said risks to the economic outlook have increased. Light, sweet crude continued to retreat on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday settling at $79.30 a barrel, down $2.01. For the first time in nearly 10 months, crude prices settled below $80 a barrel.


The Fed failed to ease fears as Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues promised to extend the benchmark interest rate for another two years but stopped short of initiating an additional round of economic stimulus.


In separate monthly reports, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and OPEC cut demand forecasts for 2011. The EIA cut its 2011 world demand growth forecast by 60,000 barrels per day (bpd). It raised its 2012 projections to 1.64 MMbpd. Meanwhile, OPEC cut oil demand growth for this year by 150,000 bpd and 20,000 bpd for next year. The intraday range for crude was $75.71 to $83.05 a barrel.


At its lowest close since Feb. 18, Brent futures lost $1.17 to end Tuesday's trading session at $102.57 a barrel. Prices traded as low as $99.06 and as high as $105.81 Tuesday. Gasoline for September delivery settled 2.4 cents lower at $2.67 a gallon Tuesday. The EIA reported a 2 percent decline in gasoline demand over the summer driving season, pushing prices as low as $2.59. The intraday high for gasoline was $2.76.


Conversely, natural gas futures gained 5.9 cents, or 1.5 percent, settling at $3.99 per thousand cubic feet. Natural gas futures pushed past the $4 mark Tuesday, peaking at $4.04 and bottoming out just below $3.89. High temperatures continue to support gains.


Posted Courtesy of Rigzone.Com




Today’s Trading Triangles

What is Next For The SP 500?

Three weeks ago he began urging members of his service to reduce risk and raise cash. He pounded the table incessantly for the past two weeks to continue to raise cash and reduce risk. He has not issued a trade alert to members in over 3 weeks, but by acknowledging risk ahead of the debt ceiling debate he was able to sidestep one of the worst weeks in U.S. financial markets since 2008.

Here's what else J.W. Jones saying about the potential bottom in these markets........

Armed with cash and my emotional capital intact, I am going to be able to take advantage of price action in coming days and weeks. I am expecting a bounce in the near term, but the downgrade of U.S. debt on Friday by the S&P rating agency could have a dramatic impact at the open on Monday morning. I intend to remain in cash until the news is digested by the marketplace.

My first public warnings about a potential top came back on July 8 when I posited an article which illustrated the bullish and bearish position of the market at that time ahead of the debt ceiling debate in Washington. The following excerpt and chart was taken directly from that article:

“In addition to the short term overbought nature of the S&P 500, the daily and weekly charts clearly illustrate a head and shoulders pattern. The head and shoulders pattern is a typical characteristic of a topping formation that is often found at several major historical tops. The daily chart below illustrates the head and shoulders pattern: 




This particular head and shoulders pattern is not getting a lot of recognition in the media which lends it a bit more credence. If we start hearing about this pattern on CNBC or FOX Business I will expect the pattern to fail. Call me a contrarian, but in the past when major television personalities are constantly talking about chart patterns they almost always fail.


Besides just technical data points, continued worries stemming from the European sovereign debt crisis helps the bear’s case further. In the event of a major default in the Eurozone, the implications to the financial sector of the U.S. economy will come into focus. It is widely expected that a banking crisis in Europe could spread to some degree to the large money center banks in the United States. Clearly this would have negative implications on price action in domestic equity markets.

In addition to the European debt crisis, the United States government has a looming credit crisis of its own. With politicians currently arguing over whether to raise the debt ceiling, bears point out that if the United States defaulted on its debt (unlikely) the implications would be severe. However, many traders and economists point out that the end of QE II may have dramatic implications on price action as well. The current uncertainty around the world lends itself in favor of the bears.”


Clearly the head and shoulders pattern has played out and barring a breakout over the 2011 highs on the S&P 500, an intermediate to long term top has been carved out. In fact, I believe we are likely entering the next phase of the ongoing bear market that started back in 2000.

Panic level selling pressure has been registered and the S&P 500 is in an extremely oversold condition as is evident by the charts below:
Stocks Above 50 Period Moving Average



Stocks Above 200 Period Moving Average

The charts above illustrate that we are extremely oversold in the intermediate term time frame and that we are nearing extreme oversold conditions in the longer term time frame as well. I am expecting a bottom to form in the next few weeks which should offer outstanding risk / reward long entries for short to intermediate term trades.

Another indicator that is showing some extreme fear in the marketplace is the Volatility Index (VIX). The VIX has traded in a choppy pattern for quite some time before finally pushing higher the past few weeks.

The daily chart of the VIX below demonstrates the fear in the marketplace:



Almost every indicator that I monitor is screaming that the current market is extremely oversold and fear levels are running at or near 2011 highs. When the masses are fearful and the S&P 500 is this oversold, I want to be looking for opportunities to get long risk assets.
While consistently picking bottoms is nearly impossible, there are a few key levels on the S&P 500 that I’m going to be monitoring.

The weekly chart below illustrates the key support levels which could hold up prices and also future targets for the likely reflex rally:



Once a bottom has been carved out, the use of Fibonacci Retracement and/or Extension analysis will help me determine more precise resistance levels. We could see further selling pressure this week before we see a pronounced bottom carved out. With volatility at these levels price action will be pretty wild. I intend to use smaller position sizes with wider stops to start layering into exposure as opportunities present themselves.

By sitting on the sidelines during this downside move, members of my service are ready to take advantage of lower prices to get long. Now the interesting part will be how Mr. Market handles the downgrade of U.S. debt on Monday ........


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What a Weekend....The United States Has Been Marked Down!

What a weekend!! S&P marks America down to to AA+. That bombshell comes on top of everything else that is happening like the markets crashing and Italy imploding. But you know what, it is also a time of great opportunity if you follow our Trade Triangle technology.

Let’s see how the markets performed last week. Out of the six markets we track every trading day, four markets were in negative territory for the week. The two markets that did not end up in the minus column were gold up 2.25% and the dollar index which was up 1.06%

The percentage loser for the week was crude oil which lost a massive 9.21% and is now officially in a bear trend according to our Trade Triangle technology. The S&P500 was close behind with another negative week which saw this index shed 7.18%.

Let’s take a look at the charts, because unlike politicians, pundits and gurus, they tell you what is really going on in the world.

So here’s what happened last week in the major markets....

S&P500: change for the week: -7.18%
Monthly Trade Triangles for Long Term Trends = Negative
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Negative
Daily Trade Triangles for Short Term Trends = Negative
Combined Strength of Trend Score = – 100

Silver: change for the week: -3.38%
Monthly Trade Triangles for Long Term Trends = Positive
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Positive
Daily Trade Triangles for Short Term Trends = Negative
Combined Strength of Trend Score = + 65

Gold: change for the week: +2.25%
Monthly Trade Triangles for Long Term Trends = Positive
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Positive
Daily Trade Triangles for Short Term Trends = Positive
Combined Strength of Trend Score = + 100

Crude Oil: change for the week: -9.21%
Monthly Trade Triangles for Long Term Trends = Negative
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Negative
Daily Trade Triangles for Short Term Trends = Negative
Combined Strength of Trend Score = – 90

$ Index: change for the week: +1.06%
Monthly Trade Triangles for Long Term Trends = Positive
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Negative
Daily Trade Triangles for Short Term Trends = Positive
Combined Strength of Trend Score = + 65

CRB Index: change for the week: – 4.46%
Monthly Trade Triangles for Long Term Trends = Negative
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Negative
Daily Trade Triangles for Short Term Trends = Negative
Combined Strength of Trend Score = – 90

Great Video: How to Spot Winning Trades

Adam Hewison: Welcome to the Bear Market

From Crude Oil Trader contributor Adam Hewison.....

Ladies and gentlemen, the market action yesterday was real. Please be aware that we have started on a bear market. As we have pointed out in our previous updates, we were looking for a move to the downside. That has now happened with all our indicators firmly in negative mode.

Most folks who are not in their 60s do not remember the bear markets of the 70s and 80s which caused a tremendous amount of pain for investors. It seems as though we just kicked the can down the road for the last time. The markets are bringing common sense back and they will find a solution for the economy.

President Obama came on the TV today to reassure everyone that it was not his fault that the stock market was down, it had to do with Europe, the tsunami in Japan. Mr. President we are and have been in a global economy for years. It’s too bad that Ben Bernanke and you don’t understand that.

Folks who saw their 401(k) and IRA retirement accounts decimated in 2008 are having a déjà vu moment. In the last 10 days the S&P 500 has lost over $1 trillion and we expect it will lose more. A simple solution to get America running again is to cut corporate taxes to 25%. Money will pour in, corporations will start hiring again and start building business. Corporations are the ones that create business and pay taxes in this country. It’s not the government that pays taxes.

So, President Obama will you please help give businesses the environment to thrive in, less regulation, less taxation? This is the only way for the country to get out of this recession.
The key element which is overriding everything right now is the current market psyche....Scared.

Last night every TV and cable show’s lead story was the market crash. If the market closes lower today, everybody will be frantic and worried about their investments over the weekend which means we’ll probably see a continuation early next week to the downside.

The equity markets are getting close to a 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level of 1148 for the S&P 500 index. We expect that this level will be reached. We would expect to see some profit taking at that area and a modest retracement back to the upside. That is not to say we are bullish, it just means we going to see some profit taking coming into this market.

I would like to thank everybody for their positive feedback! We are thankful we can help you muddle through this extremely volatile time in the markets.

So let’s go to the 6 major markets we track every day and see how we can create and maintain your wealth in 2011.

S&P 500

Monthly Trade Triangles for Long Term Trends = Negative
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Negative
Daily Trade Triangles for Short Term Trends = Negative
Combined Strength of Trend Score = – 100
Watch Video for update.

SILVER (SPOT)

Monthly Trade Triangles for Long Term Trends = Positive
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Positive
Daily Trade Triangles for Short Term Trends = Negative
Combined Strength of Trend Score = + 55
Watch Video for update.

GOLD (SPOT)

Monthly Trade Triangles for Long Term Trends = Positive
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Positive
Daily Trade Triangles for Short Term Trends = Positive
Combined Strength of Trend Score = + 90
Watch Video for update.

CRUDE OIL (SEPTEMBER)

Monthly Trade Triangles for Long Term Trends = Negative
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Negative
Daily Trade Triangles for Short Term Trends = Negative
Combined Strength of Trend Score = – 100
Watch Video for update.

DOLLAR INDEX

Monthly Trade Triangles for Long-Term Trends = Positive
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Negative
Daily Trade Triangles for Short-Term Trends = Positive
Combined Strength of Trend Score = + 65
Watch Video for update.

REUTERS/JEFFERIES CRB COMMODITY INDEX

Monthly Trade Triangles for Long Term Trends = Negative
Weekly Trade Triangles for Intermediate Term Trends = Negative
Daily Trade Triangles for Short Term Trends = Negative
Combined Strength of Trend Score = – 100

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Musings: Gas Shale Debate May Be Moving to Next Higher Stage

For the past 18-24 months, the debate about the economic performance of the gas shale revolution has been ongoing deep in the industry's trenches. Questions were originally raised by geologist Art Berman about the performance of natural gas shale wells writing in a column in an industry trade magazine, World Oil. The columns bothered certain managements of producers who were totally committed to gas shale developments.

As additional critical columns appeared using acceptable industry data analysis of the results of producing gas shale wells, these unhappy producers voiced their criticism to the publisher of World Oil. The pressure on Mr. Berman to drop the topic increased to the point that he elected to stop writing his column. World Oil's editor also left due to the pressure on Mr. Berman.

In late June, The New York Times published an article based on a number of emails between industry, government and investment professions discussing the latest gas shale data. Those exchanges focused on whether there might be a risk that the abundant volumes of natural gas trapped in the shales would not be developed because the cost of extracting them was actually far in excess of the current or even near term future gas price and that producers were misleading investors about gas shale economics.

If E&P companies were attracting the necessary investor funds to finance their gas shale developments predicated on assumptions that later proved overly optimistic, substantial financial losses could be experienced. Many of the participants in the email chains were long time students of the E&P industry and are aware of the history of producers destroying capital through poor management decisions......Read the entire article.



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This is Not Working Mr. President

Well, we are a couple of percentage points lower today in the equity markets and unfortunately your administration points the finger at the tsunami in Japan and other external issues that are stifling the economy. It is always someone else’s fault and not your administration.

It doesn’t matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat, this is YOUR economy and YOUR administration has to accept responsibility for it. You have spent trillions of tax payer’s money on unneeded and unwanted legislation, and it is never going to help the country or create jobs.

You came into office on “Hope and Change”....America got neither.

Do you really want to help the country and ensure your reelection? I think you should turn over the billion dollars you are amassing for your reelection campaign to the treasury. I would see that as a very positive gesture and it would likely get you reelected.

You were recommended to lower the corporate tax rate from 34% down to about 27%, earlier in you administration. What happened to that idea? That would mean that millions of small companies could hire more people, plan more and do more. The program was rapidly shelved because it didn’t help everybody. Mr. President corporations employ people. Corporations pay taxes. Corporations and the lack of government regulations and interference are what made America run and be a great country.

I think you’re probably a very smart man and you should recognize it’s time to change course on this spend, spend, spend attitude. You wouldn’t do it with your own checkbook, but it seems to be okay to borrow more money and spend more money for the country under the guise that it’s all going to work out.

Mr. President, it is not working out.

It’s about 16 months before the election and one promise I will make… If there are no radical changes in your policies, with unemployment at 9.2% officially and unofficially closer to 16%, then your chances of getting reelected are going to be ZERO.

P.S. Please don’t come on TV again to tell us your latest plan as it will probably send the markets further into a tailspin.

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How To Spot Winning Futures....Watch Video NOW

Set The Emotion Aside, Here is a Technicians View of VIX, Gold, Silver, Crude Oil and the SP 500

So did Crude Oil Trader contributor J.W. Jones get whacked by the sell off.......

The following article is an update on the current technical position of the marketplace as I see it. Obviously the price action this week has been ugly as the situation in Europe has become front and center in the minds of traders and market prognosticators. The information below is an adaptation of what members of my service at Options Trading Signals.com received earlier today.

The S&P 500 sold off sharply earlier this morning and has since bounced higher. Price is drifting lower as I write this but on the shorter term time frame we may see a short / intermediate term bottom traced out during intraday trade today. It would make sense that prices would rebound after being so extremely oversold.

The 10 minute chart of the S&P 500 E-Mini futures chart below illustrates the intraday price action:

If the S&P 500 does carve out an intraday bottom, the daily chart of the S&P 500 below illustrates the key price levels that will come into play on a potential reflex rally:

The VIX is trading lower after popping higher this morning. The data coming out tomorrow and Friday may give traders an opportunity to get involved with a short side try on the VIX. However, I am going to wait patiently for the setup to present itself. Clearly any trade would be a shorter term type of trade as the VIX can behave wildly.

The usual suspects (IYT, XLF, EEM, IWM) are all trading to the downside again today. The financials (XLF) are showing relative weakness at this point in time. The rest of the usual suspects are all rolling over quite similarly to the S&P 500.

The daily chart of the XLF is shown below:

The U.S. Dollar Index futures are trading lower today and continue to base right at a key support level. If price breaks down we could see risk assets like the S&P 500 and oil push higher. For right now, the Dollar is trading well above key support.

Gold futures sold off sharply this morning but have since regained most of the intraday losses and are trading strongly to the upside from Tuesday’s close. Gold is starting to get a bit stretched to the upside and I am stalking a potential short trade on gold for the service. It would only be a short term trade, but I think a pullback is likely.

Silver futures have broken out and intraday price action has pushed silver above recent resistance levels. I’m not going to chase silver here as it could be the beginning of a failed breakout. However, if prices continue higher in coming days or price consolidates at this breakout level I will become interested in taking silver long.

For now, the precious metals are intriguing, but I like the price action in silver better than gold as we have more crisply defined risk levels as gold has runaway to all time highs.

The silver futures daily chart illustrates the key levels in silver:

Oil futures are trading sharply lower today and are coming into a key support level going back to late June. If those prices do not hold up, we could see oil trade down below the key $90/barrel price level. At this point in time, I am not interested in trading oil, but if price works down into the $85/barrel price level I will be interested in oil as a longer term trade for the service.

Lastly, Treasuries are really pushing higher recently. I am patiently stalking a long term entry on TBT for the service similar to the oil trade discussed above. For right now, I’m going to remain in cash and see how price action plays out. Members of my service have been sitting in cash for the past few weeks and we have sidestepped this entire selloff. While I’m sitting in cash for now, I have a growing list of names I am stalking for trades in the future.

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Rigzone: Crude Oil Drops 1.2% on Economic Worries

Crude oil futures continued to retreat Tuesday as economic concerns weighed on the market. At its lowest in more than a month, light, sweet crude settled lower at $93.79 a barrel, down $1.10 from yesterday. Tuesday's trading session reached lows last seen on June 28.

Early Tuesday, a U.S. Commerce Department report showing a drop in consumer spending for the first time in nearly two years weighed down oil prices. The report also showed that incomes barely rose for the month of June. Analysts believe that the series of negative economic data is overshadowing the U.S. deficit-cutting package.

The Brent contract traded between $115.77 and $118.36, before settling at $116.46 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. The 35 cent day on day drop came on supply disruptions in the North Sea and a refinery fire in Taiwan.

Futures for September natural gas decreased 3.3 cents Tuesday, closing at $4.155 per thousand cubic feet. According to the National Hurricane Center, the Caribbean's latest storm Tropical Storm Emily could pick up strength in a day or two; but, as of now, the storm poses a low threat to the Gulf's output. Approximately 7.4 percent of the U.S. natural-gas production lies in the Gulf of Mexico.

Natural gas prices fluctuated between $4.135 and $4.23, maintaining a similar trading range to Monday's session. Gasoline blendstock for September delivery dropped for a fifth consecutive session, closing at $3.04 a gallon.

Posted Courtesy of Rigzone.Com

Gold and the QE3 Ship – Are Both About to Sail?

From Gold ETF Trader contributor David Banister at Market Trend Forecast.....

Back in Mid-May of this year we had a big rally in the Dollar and Gold was correcting hard. There was a bit of Dollar Bull hysteria at the time which I felt was quite unfounded. I wrote an article entitled, “The Dollar Bull Monkey Dance Will Soon End Badly, QE3 Next?” You see, the collective herd psychology at that time, just a short ten weeks ago, was that Gold would drop hard at the end of QE2, and The Dollar would of course rally as high as 82, maybe more against the weighted index.

The dollar has dropped hard since mid-May as I expected and Gold has continued to rally as well. I had forecasted $1627 for Gold back when we were under $1,500 and last Friday we closed at $1627 on the nose! During the mid May time, most disagreed with my QE3 forecast, and probably still do but I think the ships is soon leaving port. This could blast Gold up to a target of $1805 on the high end and certainly into the low 1700’s to the $1730 per ounce range.

Gold has had a powerful 5 wave rally (Elliott Wave Theory) since the October 2008 lows of $681 per ounce, and certainly one could argue that a correction would make sense fairly soon. However, the fundamentals for Gold are only getting stronger as we have inflation climbing at an 8-9% real rate and interest rates continuing to drop. This is creating a “negative” real interest rate environment amidst a continuing weaker US dollar. Hence it is hard fundamentally to argue against Gold at this time, creating difficulty in forecasting the intermediate highs and lows.

With that said, assuming QE3 or some form takes place soon then my $1805 target is quite likely to be hit before we can look for any meaningful correction in the precious metal complex. With the ISM manufacturing index turning down sharply as reported this morning and other economic indicators and GDP report rolling over, a QE3 ship horn is likely to sound soon. Below is my latest chart dated July 22nd with Gold at $1599 at the time, outlining the likely interim moves in Gold using my crowd behavioral methodology that I employ at my forecasting service.

The combination of crowd behavior and fundamental analysis often delivers stunningly accurate forecasts in advance on the SP 500, Gold and Silver at TMTF. Consider signing up for our regular updates and use our 72 hour coupon code at Market Trend Forecast

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