President Obama is going to open up some off shore drilling. April fool! No, I am not kidding but as exciting as that might be, the oil market is not reacting to drill, drill, drill but to jobs, jobs, jobs. A weak ADP employment report and today super hot data coming out of China was enough to make traders forget about a bearish supply report from the Energy Information Agency and the prospects of perhaps maybe someday more domestic oil and gas production. Oil prices are soaring to the major resistance of $85, an area that if taken out would break us out of almost a 17-month trading range. Of course it is not a breakout until it is so let's focus on what is driving that the madness.
First, it is the weak ADP employment data. After last month's supposed snowstorm influenced monthly jobs report, the hopes were rising that perhaps this month's jobs number released on Good Friday might be a blockbuster. Yet a disappointing jobs ADP report showed a decline of 23,000 private-sector jobs as opposed to the 50,000 gain that had been expected. This was very bullish for oil because it reinforces the belief that interest rates in the United States will stay lower longer than expected as the fed will be reluctant to remove this historic and massive stimulus from the system. This in turn will weigh on the dollar and drive up oil demand built upon cheap money, not to mention some smoke and mirrors.
Click here for more about where energy prices may go from here.
