The Market And Energy Page, T+152 -- June 21, 2017

Bull: This bull market is in its 9th year (?). It is said that this is the second longest "expansion" in US history. From wiki:

• Mar 1991 - Mar 2001: 120 months -- exactly ten years; Dot Com bubble ended it
• Feb 1961 - Dec 1969: 106 months -- the ongoing Vietnam War contributed to expansive fiscal policy, at the cost of rising inflation as the 1960s drew to a close
• current expansion: 96+ months; followed the Great Recession
• Dec 1982 - July 1990: 92 months --  at the time it was the second longest expansion on record; influenced by low and stable oil prices

Premium selling at a premium:

The difference between U.S. average retail prices for premium and regular gasoline reached 50 cents per gallon in late 2016, and it has remained near that level so far in 2017.

This price difference, or spread, has been generally increasing since 2000. Many factors on both the supply and demand sides are influencing this trend...

The combination of increasing demand for premium gasoline and market challenges to further increases in ethanol blending has led refiners and blenders to acquire more expensive sources of octane, leading to an increase in the price differential between premium and regular gasoline in recent years. --- EIA

Focus on China: Ford will move Focus production to China. No link; story everywhere.

Deep doo-doo: Saudi Arabia reverses salary cuts after succession shakeup. The cuts were made due to oil dropping to $60/bbl. The cuts were designed to help balance the Saudi budget. In addition to severe discontent among Saudi's workers -- including oilfield workers -- the austerity measures had deepened oil-related economic showdown. And now, oil is nearly $40/bbl.

Deep doo-doo: Brent prices are now lower than they were immediately before OPEC announced its plan to cut production back on November 30, 2016 -- John Kemp via twitter.

Oil: setting up for worst H1 since 1997. This is the question: oil industry is a boom-and-bust industry with ups/downs lasting two to three years (or less); this time it feels different; will the oil bear market last a decade? Everything points to the price of oil being demand driven, not supply driven. Demand will grow in India but I don't think it's going to grow particularly fast -- certainly not enough to make a difference in my investing lifetime. Demand in both US and China seems to be trending .... (your thoughts here).

I can't make this stuff up: US meat processor Tyson to test new method to stun chickens.