Current Oil Price

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 24 Aug 2015, 21:17

WTI at $38.15

Brent at $42.56

Oil prices are on the crest of a slump

AutomaticEarth · Post by **AutomaticEarth** » 24 Aug 2015, 22:02

If China is the global engine for growth, are we f****d? I think so....

AutomaticEarth · Post by **AutomaticEarth** » 24 Aug 2015, 22:11

Brent at 42.37
Down -6.8%
Oh dear........

johnhemming2 · Post by **johnhemming2** » 24 Aug 2015, 22:56

My own view is that the global market drop is partially driven by automated trading and partially driven by a need from some chinese investors for liquidity combined with general nervousness about Greece and China and the fact that for many markets people are on holiday.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 25 Aug 2015, 08:15

johnhemming2 wrote:A cut in energy prices etc should give a generalised boost to the economy.

With oil down below $40 we should look forward to "a generalised boost to the economy", so that explains why stock markets are soaring upwards. Oh, hang on...

johnhemming2 · Post by **johnhemming2** » 25 Aug 2015, 09:15

It will take a while for the low energy costs to boost the economy and the markets would respond to the news from that.

In the mean time it appears that China is still going down but the FTSE is on the way up again.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 25 Aug 2015, 11:11

Buy shares now, John, buy shares.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 25 Aug 2015, 11:18

biffvernon wrote:Buy shares now, John, buy shares.

The hard part about bottom feeding is knowing when they have hit the true bottom. let them bounce along on the bottom cobbles for a bit before feeding and remember some of the bait has hooks in it.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 25 Aug 2015, 11:35

John knows. He's clever like that.

http://newsthump.com/2015/08/24/chinese ... e-osborne/

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 25 Aug 2015, 17:31

johnhemming2 wrote:A cut in energy prices etc should give a generalised boost to the economy.

Brent now at $43, the lowest since March 2009. Was 2009 noted as a year in which the economy was boosted?

johnhemming2 · Post by **johnhemming2** » 25 Aug 2015, 17:47

It was boosted after that and then drew back as prices went up. Obviously March is about 1/4 through the calendar year.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 25 Aug 2015, 20:39

What's that got to do with the price of fish?

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 25 Aug 2015, 20:52

Energy prices became cheaper in real terms through the 1950s and 60s and this coincided with steady economic growth. But this was a period of low prices resulting from new technologies and discoveries increasing the oil supply.

We are now, post conventional peak-oil, in a very different place. Today's low price is not because we've just discovered a new Saudi Arabia (US shale fracking has only had a marginal impact and anyway is loss making, subsidised by some crazy economic and banking policies).

2009 with it's low oil price was followed by a very slow and faltering economic recovery.

Any 'wisdom' that may have been conventional 60 years ago does not apply today.

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 25 Aug 2015, 21:20

WTI at $38.88

Brent $42.91

Looks like the rebound in the market has run out of gas....

johnhemming2 · Post by **johnhemming2** » 25 Aug 2015, 21:58

Commodity costs are not a good guide to enterprise values unless the enterprise produces (extracts) commodities.