The oil market seems to be experiencing as much dissonance as has the latest George Friedman/ subscriber dialogue concerning the implications of the NIE.
As the BBC says:
Oil prices have fallen below $90, weighed down by a stronger dollar at the end of a volatile week’s trading.
A barrel of New York light crude was down $2.77, or 3%, at $87[.]46, while Brent crude was down $2.32 at $87.86.
On Friday, a US government jobs report was better than many analysts had expected, boosting the dollar’s value.
Oil prices have swung sharply in the past week, pushed and pulled by news about Iran, the US economy and an Opec decision not to increase crude output.
“The movements of the last few days are not necessarily logical,” said Mike Wittner, an analyst at Societe Generale.
“There are a lot of question marks out there.”
Volatile trade
Earlier in the week, prices fell following a report that downplayed Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Prices then swung higher again on signs that the US would sustain its pressure on Iran despite this report.
Energy traders fear that a conflict between Iran, and the US and its allies could hurt oil supplies from the Middle East.
The announcement late on Thursday of an aid plan for many US mortgage holders also supported oil prices. …
Also, very recent dollar strengthening has, for almost completely separate reasons, deflated the price of oil in dollar terms, adding to the confusion.
As an almost unrelated, tinfoil-hat sidenote, the CIA’s sudden announcement of destroying a couple of 2003 interrogation tapes in 2005 was as conspicuously irrelevant as it was conspicuously well-timed.
What a classic way to get all the morons focused on something completely passe, and “been there, argued that, who the hell still cares” future-policy-wise, just as NIE skepticism was building up to a crescendo.
[…] 11, 2007 by E. Cartman Not so long ago I donned my tinfoil hat and speculated that the CIA’s sudden announcement of destroying a couple of 2003 interrogation […]