Analys

Gold and oil ETP inflows benefiting from heightened geopolitical risks

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10 år sedan

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1 september, 2014

Investors’ focus remained on geopolitical risks last week, with gold and oil ETPs seeing the 7th consecutive week of inflows, as the Ukrainian-Russian conflict escalates. Russian posturing appears to be escalating and increasingly questioning Ukrainian sovereignty and the UN has urged Western nations to intervene. While oil and gold prices are yet to react to heightened risks, investors are rebuilding hedges into their portfolios.

Geopolitical risks drive the 7th consecutive week of inflows into long gold and oil ETPs. Long oil ETPs saw US$11.8mn of inflows, as the Ukrainian-Russian conflict escalates. The United Nations accused Russia of having more than 1000 regular troops in the Ukraine, pressuring Western countries to intervene. While both oil and gold prices are yet to react to heightened geopolitical risks, investors have been building positions as a hedge against further deterioration of the situation in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Russia is the world’s 2nd biggest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, accounting for 13% of global oil output and 16% of world total exports in 2013. Should Russia ban oil exports, it is unlikely that Saudi Arabia capacity to fully compensate for the loss in production. With the EIA forecasting a 9,000 barrel a day surplus in 2014, the loss of a portion of the 10.7mn barrels a day from Russia could have a substantial impact on prices. Meanwhile, long gold ETPs saw US$13.4mn of inflows last week, as investors become increasingly defensive.

Profit taking prompts US$3.7mn of outflows from ETFS Physical Palladium (PHPD). Palladium ETPs have seen over US$100mn of outflows over the past months as fears of trade sanctions against Russia, palladium biggest producer, drove the price higher. While palladium is likely to continue being buoyed by potential supply disruptions in Russia, we believe platinum underperformance is excessive and anticipate the spread between the two metals will widen over the next few months.

ETFS Copper (COPA) sees fifth weekly inflow, totalling of US$6.9mn, as US growth picks up pace. The US Department of Commerce revised Q2 growth upwards to 4.2% from 4.0%, on stronger business spending and exports. We believe fears of copper oversupply are overblown and that copper remains attractive at current price levels. We expect investors are now beginning to focus on tightening supply-demand conditions and we expect the copper price to rebound to around US$7,500. Meanwhile, profit taking drove US$2.5mn of outflows from ETFS Aluminium (ALUM) as the price hit US$2,100 for the first time in 18 months.

Price correction drives the highest inflows since May 2014 into ETFS Soybeans (SOYB). Soybeans price tumbled to a nearly 4-year low last week, on record crop expectations from the US. About 70% of soybeans in the main growing areas were deemed in good or excellent condition as of August 24. This is the highest level seen since 1992 at this time of the year. However, early signs of Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), a disease that contaminates the crop, showed up in the Midwest over the past week and threatens to drastically reduced yields. With soybean prices having lost over 18% since the beginning of the year, investors are starting to rebuild positions.

Key events to watch this week. Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan will all be holding policy meetings this week. The focus will likely be on the ECB following Draghi’s dovish speech in Jackson Hole two weeks ago. Jobs are a key concern for policymakers and US non-farm payrolls later this week are expected to show the US recovery remains robust. Manufacturing data will also be released this week for China, India, the Eurozone, the UK and the US, to gauge the relative pace of the global recovery.

Relaterade ämnen:etf securities research

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SEB Jordbruksprodukter, 1 september 2014

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Analys

Stronger inventory build than consensus, diesel demand notable

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2 dagar sedan

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21 februari, 2025

Redaktionen

Yesterday’s US DOE report revealed an increase of 4.6 million barrels in US crude oil inventories for the week ending February 14. This build was slightly higher than the API’s forecast of +3.3 million barrels and compared with a consensus estimate of +3.5 million barrels. As of this week, total US crude inventories stand at 432.5 million barrels – ish 3% below the five-year average for this time of year.

Ole R. Hvalbye, Analyst Commodities, SEB

In addition, gasoline inventories saw a slight decrease of 0.2 million barrels, now about 1% below the five-year average. Diesel inventories decreased by 2.1 million barrels, marking a 12% drop from the five-year average for this period.

Refinery utilization averaged 84.9% of operable capacity, a slight decrease from the previous week. Refinery inputs averaged 15.4 million barrels per day, down by 15 thousand barrels per day from the prior week. Gasoline production decreased to an average of 9.2 million barrels per day, while diesel production increased to 4.7 million barrels per day.

Total products supplied (implied demand) over the last four-week period averaged 20.4 million barrels per day, reflecting a 3.7% increase compared to the same period in 2024. Specifically, motor gasoline demand averaged 8.4 million barrels per day, up by 0.4% year-on-year, and diesel demand averaged 4.3 million barrels per day, showing a strong 14.2% increase compared to last year. Jet fuel demand also rose by 4.3% compared to the same period in 2024.

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Analys

Higher on confidence OPEC+ won’t lift production. Taking little notice of Trump sledgehammer to global free trade

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4 dagar sedan

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19 februari, 2025

Redaktionen

Ticking higher on confidence that OPEC+ won’t lift production in April. Brent crude gained 0.8% yesterday with a close of USD 75.84/b. This morning it is gaining another 0.7% to USD 76.3/b. Signals the latest days that OPEC+ is considering a delay to its planned production increase in April and the following months is probably the most important reason. But we would be surprised if that wasn’t fully anticipated and discounted in the oil price already. News this morning that there are ”green shots” to be seen in the Chinese property market is macro-positive, but industrial metals are not moving. It is naturally to be concerned about the global economic outlook as Donald Trump takes a sledgehammer smashing away at the existing global ”free-trade structure” with signals of 25% tariffs on car imports to the US. The oil price takes little notice of this today though.

Bjarne Schieldrop, Chief analyst commodities, SEB

Kazakhstan CPC crude flows possibly down 30% for months due to damaged CPC pumping station. The Brent price has been in steady decline since mid-January but seems to have found some support around the USD 74/b mark, the low point from Thursday last week. Technically it is inching above the 50dma today with 200dma above at USD 77.64/b. Oil flowing from Kazakhstan on the CPC line may be reduced by 30% until the Krapotkinskaya oil pumping station is repaired. That may take several months says Russia’s Novak. This probably helps to add support to Brent crude today.

The Brent crude 1mth contract with 50dma, 100dma, 200dma and RSI. Nothing on the horizon at the moment which makes us expect any imminent break above USD 80/b

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Analys

Brent looks to US production costs. Taking little notice of Trump-tariffs and Ukraine peace-dealing

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6 dagar sedan

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17 februari, 2025

Redaktionen

Brent crude hardly moved last week taking little notice of neither tariffs nor Ukraine peace-dealing. Brent crude traded up 0.1% last week to USD 74.74/b trading in a range of USD 74.06 – 77.29/b. Fluctuations through the week may have been driven by varying signals from the Putin-Trump peace negotiations over Ukraine. This morning Brent is up 0.4% to USD 75/b. Gain is possibly due to news that a Caspian pipeline pumping station has been hit by a drone with reduced CPC (Kazaksthan) oil flows as a result.

Brent front-month contract rock solid around the USD 75/b mark. The Brent crude price level of around USD 75/b hardly moved an inch week on week. Fear that Trump-tariffs will hurt global economic growth and oil demand growth. No impact. Possibility that a peace deal over Ukraine will lead to increased exports of oil from Russia. No impact. On the latter. Russian oil production at 9 mb/band versus a more normal 10 mb/d and comparably lower exports is NOT due to sanctions by the EU and the US. Russia is part of OPEC+, and its production is aligned with Saudi Arabia at 9 mb/d and the agreement Russia has made with Saudi Arabia and OPEC+ under the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC). Though exports of Russian crude and products has been hampered a little by the new Biden-sanctions on 10 January, but that effect is probably fading by the day as oil flows have a tendency to seep through the sanction barriers over time. A sharp decline in time-spreads is probably a sign of that.

Longer-dated prices zoom in on US cost break-evens with 5yr WTI at USD 63/b and Brent at USD 68-b. Argus reported on Friday that a Kansas City Fed survey last month indicated an average of USD 62/b for average drilling and oil production in the US to be profitable. That is down from USD 64/b last year. In comparison the 5-year (60mth) WTI contract is trading at USD 62.8/b. Right at that level. The survey response also stated that an oil price of sub-USD 70/b won’t be enough over time for the US oil industry to make sufficient profits with decline capex over time with sub-USD 70/b prices. But for now, the WTI 5yr is trading at USD 62.8/b and the Brent crude 5-yr is trading at USD 67.7/b.

Volatility comes in waves. Brent crude 30dma annualized volatility.