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Jim Hyerczyk

Jim Hyerczyk

Fundamental and technical analyst with 30 years experience.

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Oil Market Forecast & Review 31st January 2014

Crude oil futures surged this week as traders appeared to be unfazed by a few of the traditional fundamentals that should have curtailed the upside action.

This week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. crude oil stocks jumped 6.4 million barrels during the week-ended January 24. Analysts were looking for the data to show a 2.1 million barrel increase.

Prices rallied despite production increases after cold weather shut down many U.S. refiners in the Midwest and East Coast the previous week. A greater than expected increase in crude oil imports also contributed to the increase in supply.

The hard numbers show that supply stood at 357.6 million barrels the week-ended January 24. This represented a 4.17% surplus to the EIA five-year average of 343.34 million barrels. The EIA also reported that refinery utilization rates rose 1.7 percentage points to 88.2%. The break in the cold weather allowed the Midwest refiners to increase production by 6.6 percentage points to 94%.  

The weekly price gain could have been greater if not for the break in the equity markets and the additional reduction of monthly monetary stimulus by the U.S. Federal Reserve that tends to drive up the U.S. Dollar. Since crude oil is dollar-denominated, a stronger Greenback usually means lower foreign demand.

Despite the rally in crude oil, traders still have to be concerned about the possible impact on demand if the emerging-market sell-off reaches…




EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
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