MARKET WATCH: Oil, gas prices little changed in mixed market

Energy prices generally were little changed with crude and natural gas trading relatively flat in the New York market July 26 as Tropical Storm Bonnie drizzled into a nonevent balanced by price support from the higher-than-expected gains in US new home sales.

July 27, 2010

2 min read

Sam Fletcher
OGJ Senior Writer

HOUSTON, July 27 -- Energy prices generally were little changed with crude and natural gas trading relatively flat in the New York market July 26 as Tropical Storm Bonnie drizzled into a nonevent balanced by price support from the higher-than-expected gains in US new home sales.

A government report that June home sales rebounded 23.6% from May lows, following expiration of the homeowner tax credit, stimulated the S&P index, “which closed up 1.1% and above its 200-day moving average for the first time in over a month,” said analysts in the Houston office of Raymond James & Associates Inc.

Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix, Zug, Switzerland, cautioned, however, “New home sales were presented as much better than expected, but that’s partly because May was revised sharply down. June is better than May but is 16.7% lower than a year ago, and if sales in May were at the lowest level ever, June levels were at the second lowest level ever. The road to recovery is still a long one.”

Oil and gas prices were up in early trading July 27 before the Conference Board, a private research group, reported its Consumer Confidence Index slipped to 50.4 in July, down from the revised 54.3 in June and below the 51 reading expected by economists. “The decline follows last month's nearly 10-point drop, from 62.7 in May, which marked the biggest since February, when the measure also fell 10 points,” Anuj Sharma, research analyst at Pritchard Capital Partners LLC in Houston.

Energy prices
The September contract for benchmark US sweet, light crudes was unchanged at $78.98/bbl July 26 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as was West Texas Intermediate on the US spot market at Cushing, Okla. The October contract inched up 3¢ to $79.37/bbl on NYMEX. Heating oil for August delivery dipped 0.79¢ to $2.04/gal. Reformulated blend stock for oxygenate blending for the same month declined 1.64¢ to $2.11/gal.

The August natural gas contract gained 3.2¢ to $4.61/MMbtu on NYMEX. On the US spot market, gas at Henry Hub, La., fell 5.5¢ to $4.64/MMbtu.

In London, the September IPE contract for North Sea Brent crude was up 5¢ to $77.50/bbl. Gas oil for August advanced $3.75 to $655.25/tonne.

The average price for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' basket of 12 reference crudes dropped 22¢ to $74.22/bbl.

Contact Sam Fletcher at [email protected].