Will WTI Go Over $71 Today? -- May 9, 2018

Updates

Later, four minutes later after posting the original post: just after asking / suggesting whether WTI would hit $71 today, it did.

Original Post

Flirting with $71 shortly before the market opens:

Dow futures: up 124 points. I would assume higher oil prices could hurt the overall market for all kinds of reasons, but it's very possible, some of the oil-related Dow components will more than make up for that "risk." By the way, one would think a) the trade war -- Trump tariffs; b) the Iran deal -- Trump tantrum; c) and the Mueller investigation -- Trump follies -- would be pulling the market down, but apparently not. This is quite fascinating. Almost a once-in-a-lifetime gift.

John Kemp, Reuters London-based analyst, and regular contributor to Twitter, has noted that Trump is directly involved in no less than six (6) international "conflicts."

Market: it should be noted that CVX has been surging, and it will jump again today, and yet CVX is not even close to it's all-time high which was charted only a few weeks ago. From US News & World Report:

Chevron stock has rallied more than 17 percent in the past year, outpacing the company's rival Exxon Mobil Corp. ( XOM), which is down 6.3 percent. One of the biggest reasons for Chevron's rally has been rising oil prices. Analysts say Chevron's fate is more closely tied to oil prices than is the case for its major oil company peers.

"With CVX one of the most leveraged of the major oils to changes in oil prices, we view the balance of risk as favorable, albeit the recent recovery has recaptured half of the loss in value since the share price dislocation that took place after [Chevron's fourth-quarter earnings report]," Bank of America analyst Doug Leggate says.

Leggate says rising oil prices helped put Chevron in a position to potentially restart its share buyback program in the second half of the year so that its 3.6 percent dividend can continue to grow.

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Back to the Bakken

Where $71-Oil Is Like, "Oh, Yeah"

Active rigs:

$71.02↑↑	5/9/2018	05/09/2017	05/09/2016	05/09/2015	05/09/2014
Active Rigs	61	49	28	84	192

RBN Energy: economic justification for new Permian crude pipelines, part 5.