Written on: December 1, 2023
Friday, December 1, 2023
Energy futures are trading mixed on Friday with flat-to-lower trade in US stock market index futures likely weighing on the price action, while gains in European shares were supportive. Per Reuters, the CEO of Petrobas has said that Brazil is expected to join OPEC+ in January, but it won’t take part in production caps. Market traders are looking ahead to the Canadian Labor Force Survey, US manufacturing and construction spending data and to the weekly US rig counts from Baker Hughes for further direction.
The Caixin China Manufacturing PMI rose from 49.5 to 50.7 and back into expansionary territory last month, beating forecasts at 49.3. The Japanese unemployment rate fell from 2.6% in September to 2.5% in October, where no change was expected. Asian stock markets closed flat to lower last night as the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.06%, while the Nikkei fell 0.17% and the Hang Seng dropped 1.25% lower. In India, the S&P Global/Nikkei Manufacturing PMI for last month came in at 56.0, up from 55.5 in October.
In European news, the final S&P Global Manufacturing PMI for the Eurozone for November came in at 44.2, above expectations at 43.8. Indexes for both Germany (42.6) and France (42.9) also beat expectations. The CAC 40 was up 0.3% this morning and the DAX had added 0.6%. In the UK, the final CIPS/S&P Global Manufacturing PMI for last month came in at 47.2, beating expectations at 46.7. The Nationwide House Price Index showed prices rose 0.2% last month, against forecasts calling for a 0.4% drop. The FTSE 100 was up 0.6% as of this writing. US stock market index futures were trading flat to lower as futures for the Dow were steady while S&P 500 futures were off 0.2% and Nasdaq futures had lost 0.3%. The US dollar index was unchanged as of this writing.
Energy prices weakened yesterday with a rally in the US dollar and mixed but mostly lower trade in US shares, despite news that OPEC+ agreed to cut output by 2mb/d in the first quarter of next year. Brent crude fell 27 cents to $82.83 a barrel, WTI crude lost $1.90 to close at $75.96 a barrel, gasoline futures dropped 8.38 cents lower to close at $2.1998 per gallon, heating oil tumbled 5.80 cents lower to settle at $2.8305 per gallon and natural gas futures edged down 20 points to settle at $2.802 per MMBTU.
The 6-10 day outlook is more supportive for the East Coast where below-normal temperatures are an expectation, while the rest of the country is expected to see mostly above-normal temperatures.