United States Oil Fund (USO)

[NYBob]

BQI vs USO will be intresting to follow -



New York, August 24, 2006 - The American Stock Exchange (Amex) today listed the common shares of CanWest Petroleum Corporation, under the trading symbol BQI -

The Largest Known Oil Reserves In The World -

http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=6668

http://www.amex.com/?href=/atamex/news/press/sn_BQI_082406.htm

http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=5409

[mrktmaker]

I love this ETF

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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Oil prices were slightly higher Wednesday morning after rallying in kneejerk reaction to government data that showed across the board declines in U.S. petroleum inventories.

After growing for three straight weeks, U.S. crude stocks posted a modest decline of 800,0000 barrels last week as refinery utilization rose by 0.6 percentage point to 86.2% of operating capacity, the federal Energy Information Administration reported in its weekly status report. Analysts had expected a build in of roughly 2.3 million barrels in crude stocks.

The front month May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped as high as $71.79 a barrel in immediate reaction to the statistics before slipping back and trading as low as $71.00 a barrel, down 35 cents and then rebounding to trade at $71.38, up 3 cents.

Petroleum product stocks posted bigger declines. Gasoline stocks dropped 5.4 million barrels to 202.5 million barrels, as imports fell under 1 million barrels a day, the EIA said. Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, dropped 2.8 million barrels to 114.6 million barrels.

Analysts had expected a decline of about 2 million barrels in gasoline stocks and a draw of about 1 million barrels in distillate stocks. "Everyone was looking for draws, maybe not as much, but they were looking for big draws," said Michael Cambria, vice president with brokerage Dimon Oil in New York. "The fact that the market failed to rally suggests it might be running out of steam. It just might be a bit overdone."

June Brent on London's ICE Futures was +20 cents at $72.71 after rallying to a new record high of $73.34 earlier in the session.

Petroleum products futures also shed their gains. May gasoline was down 89 points at $2.2150 a gallon. May heating oil was 83 points lower at $2.0420 a gallon.

Tom Bentz, an analyst at BNP Paribas in New York, said that data pointing to softening demand may have led some traders to bid down futures prices.

"You'd think that the market would be up stronger on the back of a 5.4 million barrel draw in (gasoline)," he said. But "demand was down on both products."

U.S. gasoline demand dropped 2.1% in the week ended April 14, to 9.1 million barrels a day. Distillate demand was off an even bigger 6.4% to 3.995 million barrels a day, the EIA said.

Besides the demand figures, there was nothing bearish about the EIA report, a broker said, adding that prices will likely stage a comeback later in the session.

"Most of the stats were bullish," he said. "We're seeing some profit taking but I see a chance to rally later."

Oil prices have staged a big rally this week, breaking above $70.85 for the first time ever against a backdrop of brewing tensions with Iran over its nuclear program and looming changes to U.S. fuel specifications.

-By Masood Farivar, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2094; [e-mail]

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USO up again. Seems like it's pushing up with no resistance at all.

Here is an observation.

Since around July 2005 until today light crude traded in a band between roughly $60 to $70.

In the same time EUR/USD also traded in a range between roughly 1.1800 to 1.2300.

The interesting thing is, that the moves inside those bands are extraordinarily well correlated. (More than historically shown) It's almost identical.

Does somebody have a good explanation for that?

It seems strange for me since Euro is not a commodity. It should fundamentally trade completely different imo.

[speculator]

Nice move today up .90.......

[stack]

Thx. USO deserves it's own board imo, although it will probably be mentioned more on high volume trading boards...

Curious how this will behave around contract experiation days...

[speculator]

stack- Thanks for the New Board-Very Nice...............

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American Stock Exchange and Victoria Bay Asset Management Launch First Crude Oil Based Fund
Monday April 10, 11:43 am ET

NEW YORK, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Victoria Bay Asset Management, LLC and the American Stock Exchange® (Amex®) announced today the launch of the United States Oil Fund, LP (USO) which will list on the Amex under the ticker "USO."

USO's total returns are expected to track the price movements of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma, whose price is the primary benchmark in the U.S. for crude oil. USO will invest its assets in futures contracts for WTI light, sweet crude oil and other petroleum-based fuels that are traded on regulated futures exchanges in the U.S. and elsewhere and other oil interests such as cash-settled options on oil futures contracts, forward contracts for oil, and over-the-counter transactions that are based on the price of oil.

"The fund intends to invest primarily in those futures contracts that are in the two months closest to expiration because we feel those contracts will permit the fund to best achieve its investment objective," said John Hyland, the fund's Director of Portfolio Research. The partnership does not seek to use leverage in the portfolio to achieve its investment goals.

"Amex is pleased to be working with Victoria Bay Asset Management to bring such a product to market," Cliff Weber, Senior Vice President of Amex's ETF Marketplace.

Units of the partnership will trade on the Amex. The partnership's NAV will be calculated and posted everyday. An intraday indicative value will be posted every 15 seconds during the Amex normal trading hours. USO is a commodity pool that is managed by California-based Victoria Bay Asset Management, LLC. The assets of USO, which are expected to consist primarily of crude oil futures contracts and U.S. Treasuries, will be held by the partnership's custodian, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (BBH). The Amex specialist for USO is Bear Hunter Structured Products, LLC.

Note: Investors should read the prospectus for USO for more complete information about this security, including risks, expenses, and other important terms. In addition, there can be no guarantee that USO will be able to achieve its investment goals. A copy of the prospectus may be obtained at http://www.unitedstatesoilfund.com or by contacting the fund at 800.920.0259.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060410/nym190.html?.v=39

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Oil-ETF launch set for Monday, pending SEC approval
By John Spence
Last Updated: 3/29/2006 2:43:04 PM


BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- The American Stock Exchange plans to introduce the first U.S.-listed oil exchange-traded fund next week pending final regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The ETF, called United States Oil Fund LP, is set to launch on Monday and trade under the symbol "USO." It will be managed by commodity-pool operator Victoria Bay Asset Management LLC, according to a bell-ringing ceremony invitation sent to journalists by the Amex.

The fund is designed to track crude-oil prices by investing in energy derivative instruments.

The ETF would represent the first time individual investors would have a convenient, liquid vehicle for taking positions in crude oil itself, rather than investing in the shares of energy companies or mutual funds.

Last July, Victoria Bay Asset Management first filed with regulators for an oil ETF but has since changed the name from New York Oil Fund LP. The initial share price for the renamed U.S. Oil Fund will represent the closing price of near-month oil futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to the latest filing.

The fund's investment objective is for shares to reflect the performance of the spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma, minus expenses. It will invest in energy futures contracts, cash-settled options and other instruments to achieve the oil exposure, and will also hold short-term Treasuries.

The ETF is structured as a commodity pool rather than a mutual fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

Since ETFs trade on exchanges like stocks, the oil fund would allow investors to take a long position in the commodity, as well as hedge against losses by going short.

Not including brokerage or commission costs, the ETF will have a management fee of 0.5% of assets, according to the filing.

Macro Securities Depositor LLC also has an oil ETF currently in registration, and there are already oil ETFs trading on overseas exchanges in London and Mexico.

Keen interest in fund expected

Morgan Stanley analyst Paul Mazzilli said Tuesday the U.S. Oil Fund ETF appears designed similarly to the first broad-based commodities ETF to use derivatives launched last month, Deutsche Bank Commodity Index Tracking Fund (DBC).

Also structured as a commodity pool rather than a registered investment company, the Deutsche Bank offering uses futures and "rolls" them periodically to maintain exposure to the commodities. It holds U.S. Treasury bills as collateral, which also provide a yield which offsets expenses.

Mazzilli expects the fund will be successful as the first U.S.-listed oil ETF, but doubts it will experience the same fanfare as the first gold ETF, $6.1 billion StreetTracks Gold Trust (GLD), which launched in November 2004.

Other analysts agreed there could be keen interest in the oil ETF given crude's rise the past few years.

Although there are futures contracts based on oil, an ETF makes the commodity more accessible for average investors, said Dan Culloton, analyst at investment research firm Morningstar Inc.

Some investors use small amounts of commodities to diversify their stock and bond portfolios, but Culloton advised caution about leaping into oil since prices are notoriously difficult to forecast.

"There's a history of investors jumping into asset classes at their peak, so it's better to temper expectations and not to expect recent returns will continue forever," he said. "Will investors be as excited about the diversification benefits when oil is falling, and stick with it?"

Additionally, Culloton said he expects the oil fund will be less tax efficient than stock ETFs because of the tax treatment of capital gains on futures contracts.

Alex Reiss, vice president of closed-end funds and ETF research at Ryan Beck & Co., said he sees heavy demand for an oil ETF from investors who want to hedge their portfolios against geopolitical risks in the Middle East. Interest in oil has been high with some analysts predicting prices will continue to climb on supply and demand issues, he added.

However, Reiss noted "oil prices are very volatile and investors shouldn't overly concentrate their portfolios in one asset class or fund."

http://www.investors.com/breakingnews.asp?journalid=35688308

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First ETF for Crude, opened for trading 2 days ago.