Monday, August 23, 2010

Oil Futures Trading Taking A Nose Dive: Not Expected To Rebound

There has been much concern about the slowing demand and rising inventory of crude oil. Despite this concern, crude oil futures saw a slight gain today. It's going to become more difficult for these gains to continue though, because the U.S. demand is beginning its yearly decline.

On the New York Merchantile Exchange, the crude has traded for October delivery at 24 cents, or 0.3 percent to $74.06 a barrel. There were numerous traders who had hoped to see an incline in gasoline consumption, but that did not happen. Investors fear continues to mount as it's becoming clear that the annual Fall decline will be even more pronounced.

Earlier this month, several money managers including Hedge funds, took speculative positions on the increasing oil prices which topped almost $80 a barrel. According to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, these money managers have now changed their tune and are leading the way out of the oil market all together.

Analysts from Societe Generale wrote, "The bottom line is that even though recent actual demand figures from key countries such as the U.S. and China remain healthy, high inventories are unambiguously bearish."

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