While stocks look likely to open higher following news of Osama bin Laden’s death at the hands of U.S. special operations team, oil prices are moving briskly in the opposite direction, which could put pressure on big oil stocks today.
Crude futures prices fell as much as 3% earlier today before recovering modestly. Ahead of the U.S. open, Brent Crude is off about 1.5% in London at just under $124 a barrel, light, sweet crude is down about 1.6% in New York at around $112 a barrel, according to FactSet.
Some analysts questioned the sharp drop, saying that while bin Laden’s demise might trim some of the “terror” premium built into oil prices, supply-demand challenges will remain. Moreover, the dollar’s brief jump on the bin Laden news has since petered out. A stronger dollar tends to tamp down commodity prices since all things being equal, it would take fewer bucks to buy the same amount of stuff.
Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil and Hess are indicated modestly lower in New York ahead of trading.
Crude futures prices fell as much as 3% earlier today before recovering modestly. Ahead of the U.S. open, Brent Crude is off about 1.5% in London at just under $124 a barrel, light, sweet crude is down about 1.6% in New York at around $112 a barrel, according to FactSet.
Some analysts questioned the sharp drop, saying that while bin Laden’s demise might trim some of the “terror” premium built into oil prices, supply-demand challenges will remain. Moreover, the dollar’s brief jump on the bin Laden news has since petered out. A stronger dollar tends to tamp down commodity prices since all things being equal, it would take fewer bucks to buy the same amount of stuff.
