Crude Oil Closes The Week in Overbought Mode

Crude oil closed higher on Friday and above the May-July downtrend line crossing near 87.33. The mid range close sets the stage for a steady to higher opening on Monday. Stochastics and the RSI are overbought and are turning neutral to bearish signaling that a short term top might be in or is near. Closes below the 20 day moving average crossing at 83.57 are needed to confirm that a short term top has been posted. If December extends the rally off this month's low, the 38% retracement level of the May-October decline crossing at 90.65 is the next upside target.

The crude oil market continues to mirror the action in the equity markets. The highs seen on Wednesday in the December contract at $89.69 a barrel remains to be taken out if this market is going to move higher. With mixed Trade Triangles and a Chart Analysis Score of +55, there is no clear cut direction for this market at the moment.

Crude oil is very overbought on the Williams % R indicator. We would not rule out a pullback to the $80 a barrel level, which would represent a 61.8% Fibonacci retracement. Our long term Trade Triangle continues to be negative and we expect it will once again dictate the tone of this market. Intermediate term traders should be on the sidelines and long term traders should continue to be short the crude oil market.


Get 4 FREE Trading Videos from INO TV!

Crude Oil Rises On Hopes of Euro Zone Deal

Crude oil futures rose Friday amid high hopes going into a weekend summit of European leaders working to resolve the sovereign debt crisis, following equities and the euro higher.

Prices jumped as trading opened in New York and were up as much as 3% in midmorning trade before settling back. Light, sweet crude for December delivery ended the day up $1.33, or 1.6%, to $87.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange settled 20 cents lower, or 0.2%, to $109.56 a barrel.

Traders and analysts said the market rose on the belief that European leaders will finally put forth a comprehensive settlement to the European credit crunch that has plagued markets on and off for the last year and a half. Government and finance officials were to hold a series of meetings in Brussels this weekend; French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a joint statement saying they would put forth a plan by Wednesday......Read the entire Rigzone article.


Get 4 FREE Trading Videos from INO TV!

EIA: Libya Resumes Natural Gas Exports to Italy

On October 13, 2011, Libya resumed natural gas exports to Italy via the 340-mile, Greenstream Pipeline (Greenstream), which is jointly owned by the Eni S.p.A. and the National Oil Company of Libya. Natural gas  delivery imports to Sicily, Italy, at the Gela receipt point, are now about 150 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d).

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Bentek Energy, LLC.

---

Since February, unrest in Libya resulted in curtailed natural gas exports to Italy. Prior to the February curtailment, Libya supplied Italy with about 900 MMcf/d of natural gas, or 11% of Italy's average daily gas demand in 2010. Italy offset much of the reduced natural gas imports from Libya with increased imports of natural gas from Russia.



After natural gas flows resumed following the disruption, natural gas flowed from the onshore Wafa field about 300 miles southwest of Tripoli to Italy. Natural gas production at Wafa remained open during the crisis  and supplied natural gas to Libyan power plants. Most of Greenstream's natural gas usually comes from the offshore Bahr Essalam field (see map); only those volumes from Wafa in excess of domestic consumption are  available for export via Greenstream.

Crude Oil, Natural Gas and Gold Market Commentary For Friday Oct. 21st

Crude oil opened higher this morning but remains below the May-July downtrend line crossing near 87.23. Stochastics and the RSI are overbought and are turning bearish hinting that a short term top might be in or is near.

If December extends this month's rally, the 38% retracement level of the May-October decline crossing at 90.65 is the next upside target. Closes below the 20 day moving average crossing at 83.52 are needed to confirm that a short term top has been posted.

First resistance is the 38% retracement level of the May-October decline crossing at 90.65 Second resistance is the 50% retracement level of the May-October decline crossing at 95.39

First support is the 10 day moving average crossing at 86.26
Second support is the 20 day moving average crossing at 83.52

Crude oil pivot point for Friday morning is 85.80

Get 4 FREE Trading Videos from INO TV!

Natural gas was lower overnight as it extends this week's trading range. Stochastics and the RSI remain neutral to bullish signaling that sideways to higher prices are possible near term.

Closes above Monday's high crossing at 3.777 are needed to confirm that a short term low has been posted. If November renews this year's decline, monthly support crossing at 3.225 is the next downside target.

First resistance is the 25% retracement level of the June-October decline crossing at 3.859 Second resistance is the reaction high crossing at 3.926

First support is last Thursday's low crossing at 3.446
Second support is monthly support crossing at 3.225

Natural gas pivot point for Fridays trading is 3.642

Get Our Profitable Options Strategies Report

Gold started the day sharply higher due to short covering overnight as it consolidates some of this week's decline.

Stochastics and the RSI are bearish signaling that sideways to lower prices are possible near term. If December extends this week's decline, September's low crossing at 1535.00 is the next downside target. Closes above Monday's high crossing at 1696.80 are needed to confirm that a short term low has been posted.

First resistance is Monday's high crossing at 1696.80
Second resistance is the 50% retracement level of September's decline crossing at 1729.40

First support is September's low crossing at 1535.00
Second support is the 38% retracement level of the 2008-2011 rally crossing at 1476.20
Gold pivot point for Friday morning is 1621.40

It's a good time to learn "How To Trade Market Sentiment"

SP500 Poised For A Sharp Pullback Near Term says Dr. Copper

Back on October 3^rd I wrote a public article forecasting a major market bottom at around 1088 on the SP 500 index.  I surmised we were about to complete a 5 wave move to the downside that commenced with the Bin Laden highs of 1370 in early May of this year.  The following day we bottomed at 1074 intraday and closed over my 1088 pivot and continued higher as we all know.  That brings us to the recent highs of 1233 intraday this week, a strong 159 point rally off the 1074 lows in just a few weeks.

Markets I contend move based on human behavioral patterns, mostly because the crowd reacts to good or bad news in different ways depending on the collective psychology of the masses.  There are times when seemingly bad news is ignored and the markets keep going higher, and there are times when very good news is also ignored and the markets go lower. This is why I largely ignore the day to day economic headlines and talking heads on CNBC, as they are not much help in forecasting markets at all.

Using my methods, I was able to forecast the top in Gold from 1862-1907 while everyone was screaming to buy.  I was able to forecast the April 2010 top in the SP 500 well in advance, the bottom last summer, and recent pivot tops at 1231 and 1220 amongst others.  All of this is done using crowd behavioral theory and a bit of my own recipes.  

That brings us forward to this recent rally from 1074 to 1233, which as it turns out is not all that random.

The rally to 1233 will have taken place within a 13 Fibonacci trading day window which ends today.  In addition, the rally is leading into the end of Options Expiration week which tends to mark pivot highs and pivot lows nearly every single month.  Also, at 1233 we have a 61% Fibonacci retracement level of the 1010 lows of July 2010 and the 1370 highs of May 2011.  1233 was my “Bear line in the sand” I gave out a few months ago to my subscribers as a likely bull back breaker.  

In essence, the market is having trouble breaking the glass ceiling at 1233 for a reason; it’s a psychological barrier for investors now.

Near term, I expect the market to have another sharp correction to work off the near 160 point SP 500 rally that has taken hold in just over two weeks and again on 13 Fibonacci trading days as of today.  In addition to that, we should follow copper as it tends to be an extremely good indicator for the SP 500 index long and short term.

Right now, Copper has dropped 8% this week while the SP 500 levitates on a magic carpet ride within a 30 point range.  Copper looks like it has begun a 5^th wave down, which will likely take it to the $2.70’s per pound from $3.46 last week on its recent bounce from $2.99.  Below I offer a few charts showing the projected copper pattern and also one showing the SP 500 relating to Copper.

In any event, we are due for what I call a “B wave” correction of sentiment in the SP 500 and market indices, which should take the SP 500 to the 1149-1167 ranges minimally, and perhaps set up another entry for a C wave to the upside.  Caution is warranted near term is my point.  If you’d like to receive these types of regular updates during the week covering Gold, Silver, and SP 500 and more, check us out for a coupon or free weekly update at Market Trend Forecast.Com

David Banister

Get David Banisters Free Weekly Index & Commodity Forecast

Oil N' Gold: Crude Oil Daily Technical Outlook For Thursday Oct. 20th

Crude oil's break of 85.55 minor support argues that whole rebound from 74.95 has completed at 89.51, on bearish divergence condition in 4 hours MACD. Intraday bias is back to the downside and break of 83.17 support should confirm this bearish case and target a test on 74.95 low. On the upside, in case of another rise, we'd continue to expect upside to be limited by 90.52 resistance (38.2% retracement of 114.83 to 74.95 at 90.18) and bring resumption of whole decline from 114.83. However, note that decisive break of 90.52 will argue that crude oil has completed a double bottom reversal pattern (75.71, 74.95) and would bring stronger rise through 100.62 resistance.

In the bigger picture, medium term rebound from 33.2 is treated as the second leg of consolidation pattern from 147.24 and should have finished at 114.83 already. Current decline should target next key cluster support at 64.23 (61.8% retracement of 33.2 to 114.83 at 64.38) next. Sustained break will pave the way to retest 33.2 low. On the other hand, note that the fall from 114.83 is note clearly displaying an impulsive structure yet. Break of 90.52 will argue that price actions from 114.83 could merely be forming a sideway consolidation pattern and rise from 33.2 might still extend beyond 114.83 before completion.

Check out Oil N' Gold.Com for the Nymex Crude Oil Continuous Contract 4 Hour, Daily and Monthly Charts

Crude Oil Analysis & How To Trade Oil Report

How to trade oil is not an easy thing to do in today’s headline driven market. Even the best oil analysis which may have been correct will still be wrong at times. This is due to the fact that oil has many factors which play into its price. Things likes like extreme weather conditions, geopolitical events, currency fluctuations, economic conditions and supply and demand.

During any time of the day oil traders and their oil analysis stand a good chance of having one of these factors directly affect the price of crude oil messing up their charts.

But, I am a firm believer that these factors (news events) generally fall in line with the overall larger trend of oil. So understanding how to spot trends in oil is a vital part of the equation.

Another important aspect of trading crude oil along with stocks and commodities is for you to understanding how to trade price and volume at an intraday time frame. If you don’t understand candle sticks, chart patterns and volume will get your head handed to you more times than not.

Let’s take a look at some charts which cover everything you need to know in great detail…...

How to Trade Oil Daily Chart Analysis:

Below you can see clearly how the overall trend is down for oil. You can also see the repeated bearish patterns and key resistance levels. In my oil analysis I focus on finding and trading the trend. You will not find me trying to pick a major top or bottom with my strategy; rather I focus on low risk high probability continuation patterns within a trend.

Once the trend stops and reverses there will likely be one or two losing trades as the investment shakes things up and sentiment slowly comes around and shifts to support the new trend in oil.

Intraday Crude Oil Analysis:

This is a chart of Oct 19^th using a 5 minute interval. The annotations on the chart explain clearly what I saw and was hoping to see for an oil etf trade setup this week.

How To Trade Oil Conclusion:

In short, I have been waiting for this setup to unfold for a few days now. This report goes to show that if you have the patients to site back, watch and wait you will trade with much less risk. By doing this you reduce risk on your overall position because you can time your entry 1-3 days before oil moves in your favour getting you the best possible price. Also the less time you have to keep your money in a trade the better because of the factors (news events) I told you about earlier. Cash is king! Get my bi-weekly reports and videos by joining my free oil newsletter here at The Gold and Oil Guy.Com

Chris Vermeulen

Williams [WMB] to Split Into Two Before Years End

Williams' [ticker WMB] board of directors has approved a revised plan to separate the company's businesses into two stand alone, publicly traded corporations. The revised plan calls for Williams to fully separate its exploration and production business via a tax free spinoff to Williams shareholders by year end 2011. The new independent exploration and production business will be known as WPX Energy, Inc.

The previously proposed plan was to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) of WPX Energy in 2011, followed by a spinoff of Williams' remaining WPX Energy shares in first quarter 2012.

Following the spinoff, Williams shareholders will own common stock in Williams, a premier owner/operator of North American midstream and natural gas pipeline infrastructure assets; and common stock in WPX Energy, a large scale, independent North American diversified exploration and production company with positions in key North American oil shale and gas basins along with additional holdings in South America. WPX Energy's stock will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "WPX."

"The continued instability and weakness in equity markets, especially for new issuances, makes the IPO of WPX Energy appear unattractive in the near term," said Alan Armstrong, president and chief executive officer.

"However, the strong growth in cash flows from our energy infrastructure businesses gives us the flexibility to revise our plans and prepare to separate WPX Energy by the end of this year.....Read the entire Rigzone article.

Phil Flynn: A Sad Day For Freedom And The Free Markets

The CFTC took a dangerous step towards damaging the credibility of our nation's energy markets and may have harmed the economy and the average American. The commission's view that speculators are guilty until proven innocent is just another step in the Dodd-Frank regulatory overreach that is freezing our economy and stagnating job growth. This witch hunt against this elusive ghost called "excessive speculation" culminated in a 3 to 2 party line vote that will help drive trading in oil into a less transparent marketplace and will eventually lead to a less liquid and more volatile market.

You think trading is volatile now, well folks you haven't seen anything yet. In fact forget about volatility. I predict that the implantation of these new regulations will create shortages the next time the market is challenged by the type of economic crisis that we saw in 2008.
The spike up in oil to the all time high in 2008 was the catalyst for this damaging regulation and it was based on the false assumption that "excessive speculation" was driving the price of oil to record highs. Of course we now all know that the prices of oil and all other commodities were a relief valve as the market sought safe haven from the greatest economic crisis of modern times. If money was restricted from entering the futures markets at that time, the global economic crisis would have had much more severe consequences. We would have seen hording of supply and the freezing of commodity movement as the big players would have refused to sell to each other because of the lack of real true price discovery. In other words, the global commodity markets would have frozen more than the banks.

Read the entire article "A Sad Day For Freedom And The Free Markets"


Get Today’s Stock Market Club Trading Triangles

The SP 500, Apple Earnings and Feeding The A.D.D. Monster

The last hour of trading was intense on Tuesday and then all eyes were focused on Apple’s earnings which were released around 4:30 ET. The initial reaction to the earnings release is negative although as I write this AAPL is bouncing sharply higher in after market trading on strong volume.

To put the final hour’s volatility into perspective, at 3 P.M. Eastern Time the S&P 500 Index was trading at 1,217. A mere 12 minutes later the S&P 500 Index pushed 15 handles higher to trade up to 1,232. Then sellers stepped in and pushed the S&P 500 lower by nearly 12 handles in the following 20 minutes.

The price action was like a roller coaster and I was sitting watching the flickering red and green bars in real time with the anticipation of a child. It was the most excitement I have had in quite some time, but please don’t hold that against me. I don’t know whether reading my previous line makes me laugh or cry, but the truth must be heard I suppose.

Enough self deprecation, I want to get down to business with some charts and what is likely to happen in coming sessions. The sell the news event in AAPL has the potential to really change the price action tomorrow. If prices hold at lower levels, the indices could roll over sharply tomorrow. The S&P 500 E-Mini futures contracts are showing signs of significant weakness after the earnings miss by Apple in aftermarket trading.

Some other potentially game changing news items came out of Europe where Reuters reported earlier today that the Eurozone will likely pass legislation that will ban naked CDS ownership on sovereign debt instruments. Additionally, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner stated this morning that a forthcoming FHA announcement involving a new housing refinance plan was going to be made public in coming days. The statement regarding the new FHA plan helped the banks and homebuilders show relative strength during intraday trading and likely were behind much of the intraday rally.

I would point out that the S&P 500 Index (SPX) broke out slightly above the August 31 highs before rolling over. The reason that is critical is because the S&P 500 E-Mini futures did not achieve a breakout, but tested to the penny the August 31^st highs. I am going to be totally focused on tomorrow’s close as I believe it will leave behind clues about the future price action in the S&P 500 leading up to option expiration where volatility is generally exacerbated. The daily chart of the S&P 500 Index is shown below:



If Wednesday’s close is below the recent highs near 1,230 we could see this correction intensify. The price action on Tuesday helped stop out the bears and if we see a significant reversal tomorrow the intraday rally today will have been nothing more than a bull trap. The price action Tuesday & Wednesday could lead to the perfect storm for market participants where bears were stopped out and bulls are trapped on the potential reversal.

Another interesting pattern worth discussing is the head and shoulders pattern seen on the SPY hourly chart. The strong rally to the upside may have indeed negated the pattern, but if prices don’t follow through to the upside in the near term and the neckline of this pattern is broken to the downside we could see serious downside follow through. The hourly chart of the Spider SPY Trading ETF is shown below:

Ultimately there are two probably scenarios which have different implications going forward. The short-term bullish scenario would likely see prices breakout over recent highs and push higher toward the key resistance area around the 1,260 price level. The 1,260 price level corresponds with the neckline that was broken back in August that led to heavy selling pressure.

Bullish Scenario
If we do breakout to the upside, the longer term ramification may wind up being quite bearish as most indicators would be screaming that price action was massively overbought at those levels and a sharp selloff could transpire into year end. The daily chart of the S&P 500 Index illustrates the bullish scenario below:




Bearish Scenario
The short term bearish scenario would likely involve a break below Monday’s lows that would work down to around the 1,140 level or possibly even lower. If a breakdown took place, a higher low could possibly be carved out on the daily chart which could lead to a multi month rally that would likely see the neckline mentioned above tested around the holiday season. The daily chart of the S&P 500 below shows the bearish scenario:



There are a variety of reasons why either scenario could unfold. Most of the analysis that I look at argues that the bearish scenario is more probable. However, based on what happened in the final hour of trading on Tuesday and the surprise earnings miss from Apple anything could happen.

I will likely wait for a confirmed breakout either to the upside above recent highs or to the downside below the neckline of the head and shoulders pattern illustrated above before accepting any risk. I am of the opinion that risk is exceptionally high in the near term. I am not going to try to be a hero, instead I am just going to wait patiently for a high probability setup to unfold.

Until a convincing breakout in either direction is confirmed, I am going to sit on the sidelines. I am quite content just watching the short-term price action without taking on any new risk. For those that want to be heroes or feel they have to trade, I would trade small and use relatively tight stops to define risk. Risk is excessively high!

Subscribers of OTS have pocketed more than 150% return in the past two months. If you’d like to stay ahead of the market using My Low Risk Option Strategies and Trades check out OTS at Options Trading Signals.Com and take advantage of our free occasional trade ideas or a 66% coupon to sign up for daily market analysis, videos and Option Trades each week.

JW Jones

Get J.W.s Latest Options Trading Signals Articles