Zeev shorted TZOO !! The MM pump model seems well in place for TZOO and RIMM. and TASR. Stocks decline on big volume and then the 100 share walkup takes them up a dollar in 10 minutes...
Oil nears record as product stocks fall
Heating-oil price at new high; natgas rises as much as 9%
By Myra P. Saefong, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 3:26 PM ET Oct. 20, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Crude-oil futures climbed 3 percent Wednesday to close just short of a new record in New York after two key U.S. reports revealed declines in distillate and gasoline supplies for last week, and showed that crude inventories remained below the year-ago level. Strength in oil, especially heating oil, helped drive natural-gas futures higher by as much as 9 percent. "It's a scary number for heating oil ... refineries are suspected to be pulling from producing gasoline to increase heating-oil supplies," said John Person, head analyst at Infinity Brokerage Services.
Crude for November delivery closed at $54.92 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $1.63 for the session, but just under the previous record close of $54.93 from Friday. On an intraday basis, it tapped $55.20, its highest intraday level ever, topping Friday's $55 intraday mark. Prices climbed as high as $55.33 in overnight trading Monday.
December crude, which became the lead-month contract after the session's close, climbed $1.77 to close at $54.41. November heating oil closed at a record $1.5604 a gallon, up 5.19 cents, or 3.4 percent, while November unleaded gasoline rose 4.59 cents to end the day at $1.4032 a gallon. "A sharp increase in Midwestern demand, and the impact of that demand on Midwestern inventory, accounts for an overall U.S. distillate supply drawdown that has ignited world markets," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service.
Earlier, the Energy Department reported that distillate stockpiles fell 1.9 million barrels to total 119 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 15. After posting a fifth straight weekly decline, the supplies, which include heating oil, are now 9.6 percent below the year-ago level, the government data showed.
The American Petroleum Institute reported a 1.2 million-barrel fall in stockpiles and pegged the total at 116.8 million. Most analysts had expected some decline in stocks. "This is supposed to be the time of year that heating supplies build in preparation for winter," said Todd Hultman, president of Dailyfutures.com, a commodity information provider. Instead, U.S. inventories of heating oil, which is part of the distillate stock figures, have dropped by almost 3 million barrels this month and are now 12 percent below year-ago levels, he said.
Demand for distillates remained above 4.2 million barrels per day for a second-straight week, according to Kloza. "Those are winter-like disappearance numbers, so the inventory count is clearly raising concern," he said, adding that on a four-week basis, distillate demand is up 4 percent from a year ago. "U.S. and world production are strained, and it may be a very tough challenge to get through this winter without some large upward price spikes," Hultman said.
Gasoline stocks fall, crude supply tight
Gasoline supplies also fell last week, contrary to many market expectations. Supplies of the motor fuel were down 700,000 barrels at 199.9 million, or 2.1 percent above the year-ago level, according to the Energy Department. The API said stocks were at 197.4 million barrels, down 2.4 million for the week.
The tight gasoline stockpiles drove retail prices above $2 a gallon this week. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded stood at $2.019 as of Wednesday, up from $2.014 on Tuesday, according to AAA's daily fuel gauge report. See the data. Crude inventories stand 3.8 percent below the year-ago level, even though stockpiles were up 1.2 million barrels at 279.4 million in the latest week, the Energy Department said. Some analysts expected supplies to rise more than that.
Also, the API said the supply fell by 972,000 barrels to stand at 275.9 million barrels. "We're still suffering from the loss of production in the Gulf," said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago. "The only reason the Energy Department showed an increase in supplies at all is because of another release [a loan to refineries] from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve," he said.
Imports averaged 10.1 million barrels per day last week, up 43,000 barrels from the prior week, according to the Energy Department, with preliminary data showing that the "amount of imports from the Gulf of Mexico was particularly high again."
Refinery capacity utilization climbed 1.3 percent to 88.2 percent in the latest week, the government data showed. "Despite an increase in refinery capacity utilization, refined product stocks decreased due to a sharp drop in imports in the case of gasoline and due to strong demand growth in the case of distillate fuel oil," said Thorsten Fischer, a senior economist at Economy.com.
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