U.S. oil prices recover from their lowest price of the year
U.S. oil futures finished higher on Monday, recovering from early losses that saw the West Texas Intermediate...
U.S. oil futures finished higher on Monday, recovering from early losses that saw the West Texas Intermediate contract briefly erase its year-to-date gain. Protests over China’s strict COVID-19 restrictions stoked worries over slack crude demand from one of the world’s biggest consumers briefly pulled prices to their lowest level of the year.
West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery CL.1, 0.35%CL00, +0.38%CLF23, 0.37% fell 96 cents, or 1.3%, to settle at $77.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices for the front-month contract traded as low as $73.60, the lowest since Dec. 27, 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
JanuaryBrent crude BRNF23, -0.99%, the global benchmark, lost 44 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $83.19 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. It traded as low as $80.61, the lowest intraday level for a front month since Jan. 10. February Brent BRN00, -0.75%BRNG23, -0.79%, the most actively traded contract, rose 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $83.89 a barrel.
December gasolineRBZ22, -1.19% rose 0.1% to $2.3306 a gallon
December heating oil HOZ22, -1.71% fell 0.7% to $3.2154 a gallon.
December natural gasNGZ22, -3.90% was down 4.4% to end at $6.712 per million British thermal units on the contract’s expiration day.
US to Auction Almost 1 Million Acres Off Alaska for Oil Drilling
The Biden administration plans to offer hundreds of thousands of acres off the coast of Alaska for new...
The Biden administration plans to offer hundreds of thousands of acres off the coast of Alaska for new oil and gas drilling next month, a sale mandated in Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act to win the support of holdout West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.
The auction of more than 958,000 acres in Alaska’s Cook Inlet next month, announced by the Interior Department Monday, could produce nearly 200 million barrels of crude and 300 billion cubic feet of natural gas over the lifetime of the lease sales, according to department estimates, though it’s debatable whether any drilling will actually occur.
The lease sale, to be held Dec. 30, was one of several previously canceled offerings reinstated in the Democrats’ climate spending bill signed into law in August and considered a linchpin to winning Manchin’s support. The Biden administration announced it had canceled the Cook Inlet sale in May citing a lack of interest, prior to the legislation’s enactment.
Dow ends down nearly 500 points as China fears rattle markets
U.S. stocks finished sharply lower on Monday as several senior Federal Reserve officials hurt demand...
U.S. stocks finished sharply lower on Monday as several senior Federal Reserve officials hurt demand for stocks with hawkish commentary, while worries about the burgeoning protest movement in China rippled across global markets. The S&P 500 SPX, -1.54% finished down 62.17 points, or 1.5%, to 3,96395. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.45% closed off 497.57 points, or 1.5%, to 33,849.46. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -1.58% closed 176.86 points, or 1.6%, lower at 11,049.50.
In China, you can be put in prison if you’re heard criticizing President Xi Jinping, but after suffering...
In China, you can be put in prison if you’re heard criticizing President Xi Jinping, but after suffering through nearly three years of “zero Covid” policies that have upended people’s lives and confined them to their houses for months, some are starting to risk it. During a series of protests in Shanghai, Beijing, and other cities against Covid restrictions this weekend, Chinese demonstrators were reportedly chanting “Xi Jinping, step down” and “Communist party, step down.”
China analysts say this kind of public defiance is unprecedented for Xi Jinping’s presidencyand could spiral into the worst political crisis for Beijing since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
Looking ahead…all eyes are on the Chinese government’s next moves to quell the dissent that appears to only be intensifying. Oh, and this seems important: Covid cases in China hit a record for a fourth straight day on Saturday.
Jobs report incoming:The November jobs report will drop on Friday, and it’s expected to show the second straight monthly deceleration in US employment growth. Still, the economy is projected to have added 200,000 jobs last month, which would indicate a still-healthy labor market and keep the Fed on its rate-hiking path.
Sam Bankman-Fried is going to make his lawyers wince during his much-hyped interview at the NYT DealBook Conference on Wednesday. (I’m going to be there! Will report back.)
Congress returns from the Thanksgiving holiday today. The period after an election and before a new Congress gets sworn in is known as a “lame duck” session.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree will be lit on Wednesday.It has 50,000 lights and is crowned with a star decked out with 3 million Swarovski crystals
