WTI May Invert; Short-Term Angst For Investors -- WSJ

Active rigs:

	7/19/2014	07/19/2012	07/19/2011	07/19/2010	07/19/2009
Active Rigs	195	207	182	134	42

The Wall Street Journal

US blames attack on Malaysia Airlines on Russian-aided separatists in the Ukraine. Disaster clouds Putin's strategy for Ukraine.

Gaza bombarded by air, land, and sea.

Detroit's water cutoffs spark protests. Courts will get involved. Free water for all.

President Obama schedules top-level meeting on immigrant children, set for next Friday. Then golf.

 British Open: McIlroy extends lead; Tiger and Phil not on leaderboard but "they are all that seems to mater."

Heard on the street:

Front-month Brent crude-oil futures raced up to almost $116 a barrel in mid-June amid renewed violence in Iraq, but are now back below $108. That would upset many an oil investor.

But there is more trouble ahead—literally.

Just as the yield curve plots interest rates for bonds at different maturities, the forward curve prices oil for delivery in the months and years ahead, based on the level at which futures are changing hands. When near-dated prices are higher than those further out, the curve slopes downward, implying that supply is tight. When near-dated prices are lower and the curve slopes upward, it suggests the oil market is looser. Brent's recent slide hasn't merely brought down the headline price, it has flipped the curve.

A month ago, the spot price was about $1.60 a barrel higher than oil for delivery three months out, so the curve sloped downward. Today, the three month level is 75 cents above the spot price.

It will get worse before it gets better.

The Los Angeles Times

The President calls downing the Malaysian airliner an "outrage."