Written on: April 1, 2024
Monday, April 1, 2024
Energy futures are trading in the red on Monday despite gains in US stock market index futures. Reuters reported that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Novak has stated that Russia will focus on reducing oil output rather than exports in the second quarter to coordinate with other OPEC+ member countries. Market traders are looking ahead to US manufacturing and construction spending data for further direction.
US stock market index futures were seeing gains of between 0.3% (Dow and S&P 500 futures) and 0.4% (Nasdaq futures) as of this writing. The US dollar index was steady this morning.
The Caixin China Manufacturing PMI rose from 50.9 to 51.1 in March, just above forecasts at 51.0 and indicating further and faster expansion in the sector. The final March Jibun Bank Manufacturing PMI for Japan came in at 48.2, unchanged from the February number. The Nikkei fell 1.40% last night, while the Shanghai Composite added 1.19%. The Hong Kong and major European stock exchanges were closed today for Easter.
Petroleum futures strengthened on Thursday amid flat to higher trade in European shares, despite continued strength in the US dollar index. Brent crude added $1.39 to close at $87.48 a barrel, WTI crude rose $1.82 to $83.17 a barrel, gasoline futures jumped 7.64 cents higher to settle at $2.7611 per gallon, heating oil gained 1.70 cents to close at $2.6156 per gallon. Natural gas futures added 4.5 cents to settle at $1.763 per MMBTU.
The latest 1-5 day forecast based on the European model calls for mostly below-normal temperatures in both the Northeast and the Midwest. The 6-10 day outlook sees mostly above-normal temperatures in the Midwest, while near- to below-normal temperatures are expected on the East Coast.