What's Moving the Oil Markets?

What's Moving the Oil Markets?

•IPE Brent crude futures in London strengthened in morning trading on Friday as short covering ahead of the weekend pushed August Brent upwards having been rangebound for most of the day, brokers said. "It's was quiet this morning as the market finishes looking at the US stats and looks ahead to the weekend. There's no real news or speculative activity and I think the rally is due to people covering short positions over the weekend," a London-based broker said.

•On Thursday, the US Energy Information Administration reported further bearish gasoline stocks data, against expectations of a 630,000 barrel decline. The EIA reported a 700,000 barrel jump in gasoline stocks whilst the American Petroleum Institute showed a 796,000 barrel drop.

•As Brent futures prices have risen over the past 4 weeks by around $7/barrel, or just over 10%, open interest has increased significantly as players increase their long positions, traders said. Since June 20 open interest has increased by 67,715 to 474,022 on July 6.

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