If this trading activity is client-driven, oil-related physical assets are certainly not critical. But if your oil trading activity is proprietary-trading oriented, then of course the conclusion is different.
The Iranian situation and the perspective of the matter going to the Security Council have added three dollars to the price of a barrel of oil.
We should see stock builds in the second quarter, but despite this, it's very difficult to justify a production cut at current prices.
More than 50 percent on average of all these indexes is in oil and refined products. It's having a massive impact on the markets.
We believe that the peak is near, both in terms of level and timing. This should be between now and the month of December and be located between $55 and $60 for NYMEX crude,
The price floor for the market will be higher than it was before Katrina.
News coming in over the weekend that some production facilities might take longer to recover than originally expected is lending a slight bullish tone to the market, but this may disappear during the day,
They're trying to show their good will by not putting too much pressure (on the Security Council).
Even if Tehran can not afford to cut for long its exports of crude, which represents 80 percent of its foreign currency earnings, such an action would drive up prices and seriously hurt the economies of those countries which are calling for sanctions.
The market is still fearing that we might see some more serious hurricanes down the road,
