The Energy And Market Page, T+115; Huge US Distillate Export Story Being Reported -- May 15, 2017

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Mid-day trading: both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hit new record highs. 

Opening: NASDAQ hits new record high. 

Futures looking good. Up 54 points about an hour before the opening. It could be a wild day on Wall Street. Already futures suggest some new records will be set. AAPL could set a new record. I think one can learn a lot by looking at companies whose shares fall on a strong day on Wall Street, and those companies whose shares rise on a bad day for Wall Street. With futures looking to rise today, what is Tesla doing? Down over 2% in pre-trading, losing over $7 on a $320-stock.

Saudi Arabia, Russia agree to extend cuts into 2018.

Oil "surges": according to Reuters. The surge: oil prices almost 3% higher. Saudi and Russia agree to extend production cuts (wink, wink) for nine months. Considering Saudi burns more oil domestically during the hot summer months to run air conditioners it will be interesting to see how Prince Salman threads that needle.

WTI vs Brent: with price of oil "surging," it's important to watch the "oil" that one is referencing. I saw a headline that said "oil" surged to over $52. Considering a week ago "oil" was as low as $43 that's quite a surge. In fact, the former was Brent, the latter was WTI. The drop to $43 was also due to a "flash crash" that most folks did not notice, happening overnight in the states. The "oil" that is over $52 today is Brent oil; WTI is up almost 4% but still below $50 ($49.55). Regardless, WTI looks like it's headed back to the sweet spot: trading in a range between $50 and $55.

Making America great again. From the EIA today:

Distillate exports from Central Atlantic states totaled more than 103,000 barrels per day (b/d) in February, a record high for the month.

Distillate fuel is usually imported into the Northeast during the winter months because 22% of households in the Northeast use distillate fuel for home heating, a higher proportion than in any other U.S. region. However, because temperatures were warmer than normal in February 2017, domestic demand was relatively low.

Europe received 50% of the total distillate exported from Central Atlantic states in February 2017. The remainder went to Central and South America (28%) and Africa (22%). Total motor gasoline exports from Central Atlantic states totaled more than 31,000 b/d in February, much more than the 1,000 b/d average of the previous five Februarys.

Nearly all of the gasoline exports from Central Atlantic states went to countries in Africa. --- EIA

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Tesla -- We Should Know In The Next Six Months Or So

Analyst:

• Tesla will blow through $3.1 billion (vice earlier estimates of $2.3 billion) in 2017
• will not be profitable until 2019 
• Amazon and Apple seen as competitors