Oil Price - March 9

[dan_s]

Why is the oil price up this morning?

1. Reduction in FEAR #1: Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum are not as "terrible" as the talking heads said they would be. Canada, Mexico and sure to be others are exempt. Trump is a negotiator and the tariffs give him a bargaining chip.
2. Reduction of FEAR #2: North Korea is not going to nuke us anytime soon and they actually want to meet to discuss a solution. Maybe Trump's "Get Tough" tactics and his leverage with China actually will work.
3. Inventories are not rising fast enough: Crude oil, Gasoline and Jet Fuel inventories in the U.S. are all below 28 days of supply ("normal" is 30 days).

AS I HAVE POSTED HERE MANY TIME: This is the time of year when liquids inventories MUST BUILD because a BIG SPIKE in demand is just a few weeks away. Refineries are starting to come out of maintenance season and in April they need to ramp up to more than 95% of capacity. For the week ending 3/2/2018 they were at 88% of capacity.