Opening Prices:
> WTI is down $1.74 to $36.98/Bbl, and Brent is down $1.82 to $39.11/Bbl.
> Natural gas is down 13.7c to $2.390/MMBtu.
Aegis Energy: "Markets plummet after President Trump announces he has COVID-19"
Closing Prices:
> WTI closed at $37.05/Bbl
> Natural gas closed at $2.439/MMBtu.
WTI crude sank 4.5% to $37 a barrel on Friday, the lowest close since September 8th, after the US jobs report showed the economy added less jobs than expected in September and as President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19. Prices were already under pressure amid mounting concerns over fuel demand recovery as the number of coronavirus infections continue to rise worldwide including major economies like the US, the UK, Germany and France. Also, supply worries on the back of the resumption of Libyan exports weighted on sentiment. On the week, WTI crude was down 8.1%, its second weekly loss and the biggest drop since June.
Oil & Gas Prices - Oct 2
Oil & Gas Prices - Oct 2
Last edited by dan_s on Fri Oct 02, 2020 5:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dan Steffens
Energy Prospectus Group
Energy Prospectus Group
Re: Oil & Gas Prices - Oct 2
Unemployment rate going down should add a bit of support for oil price. What's sad is that a lot of people finding new jobs are making a lot less money.
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The US economy saw another 661,000 jobs added back in September and a modest improvement in the unemployment rate, as the recovery in the labor market continues at a stagnating rate.
The Labor Department released its September jobs report Friday morning. Here were the main metrics from the release, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Change in non-farm payrolls: +661,000 vs. +859,000 expected and +1.489 million in August
Unemployment rate: 7.9% vs. 8.2% expected and 8.4% in August
Average hourly earnings, month over month: 0.1% vs. 0.2% expected and 0.3% in August
Average hourly earnings, year over year: 4.7% vs. 4.8% expected and 4.6% in August
Labor force participation rate: 61.4% vs. 61.9% expected and 61.7% in August
The addition in non-farm payrolls marked the fifth straight month of net job gains. July’s payroll gains were upwardly revised by 27,000 to 1.761 million, and August’s were revised up by 118,000 to 1.489 million.
Still, the economy remains far from recuperating the jobs lost during the nadir of the pandemic period in March and April. Between those two months, employment fell by more than 22 million. Through September, just 11.4 million jobs were brought back.
By industry, leisure and hospitality employers brought back by far the most payrolls in September at 318,000 with nearly two-thirds of these gains coming in bars and restaurants as these businesses reopened further. Still, employment at food services and drinking places remains lower by 2.3 million compared to February – even with job growth totaling 3.8 million over the past 5 months.
Retail trade added back more than 142,000 jobs during the month, comprising a major portion of the overall job gains in September, but representing step down from the 261,000 payrolls added in these industries in August.
Government jobs were the only category to post net job losses during the month, driven by a decline in the number of temporary Census 2020 workers.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked down more than expected in September, improving further from the pandemic-era high of 14.7% in April, but still coming in at more than double the unemployment rate from February this year before the outbreak. And September’s drop in the jobless rate also coincided with an unexpected decline in the labor force participation rate, reflecting a decline in the number of Americans either employed or actively seeking employment.
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The US economy saw another 661,000 jobs added back in September and a modest improvement in the unemployment rate, as the recovery in the labor market continues at a stagnating rate.
The Labor Department released its September jobs report Friday morning. Here were the main metrics from the release, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Change in non-farm payrolls: +661,000 vs. +859,000 expected and +1.489 million in August
Unemployment rate: 7.9% vs. 8.2% expected and 8.4% in August
Average hourly earnings, month over month: 0.1% vs. 0.2% expected and 0.3% in August
Average hourly earnings, year over year: 4.7% vs. 4.8% expected and 4.6% in August
Labor force participation rate: 61.4% vs. 61.9% expected and 61.7% in August
The addition in non-farm payrolls marked the fifth straight month of net job gains. July’s payroll gains were upwardly revised by 27,000 to 1.761 million, and August’s were revised up by 118,000 to 1.489 million.
Still, the economy remains far from recuperating the jobs lost during the nadir of the pandemic period in March and April. Between those two months, employment fell by more than 22 million. Through September, just 11.4 million jobs were brought back.
By industry, leisure and hospitality employers brought back by far the most payrolls in September at 318,000 with nearly two-thirds of these gains coming in bars and restaurants as these businesses reopened further. Still, employment at food services and drinking places remains lower by 2.3 million compared to February – even with job growth totaling 3.8 million over the past 5 months.
Retail trade added back more than 142,000 jobs during the month, comprising a major portion of the overall job gains in September, but representing step down from the 261,000 payrolls added in these industries in August.
Government jobs were the only category to post net job losses during the month, driven by a decline in the number of temporary Census 2020 workers.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked down more than expected in September, improving further from the pandemic-era high of 14.7% in April, but still coming in at more than double the unemployment rate from February this year before the outbreak. And September’s drop in the jobless rate also coincided with an unexpected decline in the labor force participation rate, reflecting a decline in the number of Americans either employed or actively seeking employment.
Dan Steffens
Energy Prospectus Group
Energy Prospectus Group
Re: Oil & Gas Prices - Oct 2
Update on power generation in U.S. from B of A Equity Research.
"We expect more natural gas generation capacity will be added given the intermittency of renewables and relative economics compared to fossil fuel sources, with total gas capacity expanding by 31 GW between 2019 and 2025, though declining modestly from 41% of total U.S. capacity to 3 9% - nonetheless gas is expected to remain the key baseload fuel used for power generation in the US for a long time given its abundance and attractive economics of generation. We expect coal to decline rapidly (and in fact we see the trend accelerating) as year-to-date data suggests a reduction in coal-fired generation of nearly one third through the first half of 2021."
"We expect more natural gas generation capacity will be added given the intermittency of renewables and relative economics compared to fossil fuel sources, with total gas capacity expanding by 31 GW between 2019 and 2025, though declining modestly from 41% of total U.S. capacity to 3 9% - nonetheless gas is expected to remain the key baseload fuel used for power generation in the US for a long time given its abundance and attractive economics of generation. We expect coal to decline rapidly (and in fact we see the trend accelerating) as year-to-date data suggests a reduction in coal-fired generation of nearly one third through the first half of 2021."
Dan Steffens
Energy Prospectus Group
Energy Prospectus Group