Notes From All Over -- They Must Be Reading The Blog -- $40 Oil Is Not Enough For Saudi Arabia -- July 21, 2020

Wow,  how long have we been saying this: $40 oil is not enough for Saudi Arabia. Now, from an oilprice contributor, we have this, although it's not much of a story:

Despite the relaxation of OPEC+ cuts, crude continued to trade within the $40-43 range. Yet, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, had highlighted that although OPEC itself does not have a price target, current prices are not sustainable for the industry, leading to potential insecurity of supply in the long term. 

CMarkits’ latest forecast sees an average price of $43 for Brent in July that may rise to $50 by December if demand continues to smoothly recover. Morgan Stanley had also raised its forecast for Brent by $5 to $40 in Q3, something we had predicted at the beginning of Q2.

"Insecurity of supply": code for "we'll do what it takes to drive oil prices up."

Saudi air conditioning: more than ever. I think we've talked about this each summer for the past ten years. Saudis stuck home for summer burn more oil for air conditioners -- Bloomberg, paywall, but the headline says it all.

OPEC basket: down slightly at $43.03.

WTI: up 3.14%; up $1.28; trading at $42.09.

NFL: no pre-season games. Season starts September 10, 2020 -- with or without fans. 
 

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Market Midday

Headlines, that's all:

• Coca-Cola predicts recovery after "most challenging" quarter. 
• Philip Morris shares rise after earnings and sales beat expectations. No work? More time to smoke, apparently. I don't know. 
• Apple iPhone SE boosts 2Q20, but unlikely to cannibalize 5G sales -- report.

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Reason for AAPL's pullback today: ZeroHedge. It's all relative.