Looking to the Futures

Crude oil futures (/CLJ26) remain well above $90 per barrel on Friday as the Iranian conflict shows few signs of a near-term resolution. 

In addition, in its Weekly Petroleum Status Report, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude oil stockpiles rose by 3.8-million barrels during the week ending March 6. This was above expectations for a 1.1-million barrel storage build.

Oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, stood at 443.1 million barrels, 2% below the five-year average.

U.S. oil production declined by 18,000 barrels per day last week and averaged 13.678 million barrels per day. This was 103,000 barrels per day higher than one year ago.

On the oil product side, distillate inventories declined by 1.3-million barrels, which was above expectations for a 700,000 barrel draw. Distillate inventories are now 2% below the five-year average for this time of year.

Gasoline inventories declined by 3.8-million barrels, which was above expectations for a 2.6-million barrel draw. These stockpiles are now 5% above the five-year average.

EIA said gasoline production increased from the previous week and averaged 9.9-million barrels per day. Distillate production also increased last week, averaging 4.9-million barrels per day.

The agency also reported that U.S. ethanol production rose last week, averaging 1.126 million barrels per day. Expectations were for an increase to 1.115 million barrels per day.

U.S. ethanol inventories declined to 25.6 million barrels last week. Traders were expecting inventories of 26.1 million barrels.

Digging further into the EIA report, refinery utilization increased by 1.6 percentage points to 90.8% last week. Expectations were for an increase to 90.5%. U.S. gasoline demand rose by 949,000 barrels per day to 9.241 million barrels per day. Distillate demand also increased last week, rising by 367,000 barrels per day to 4.065 million barrels per day.

Oil storage in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the WTI Crude Oil futures (/CL) contract, rose by 100,000 barrels last week to 26.6-million barrels.

The U.S. crude oil rig count rose by four and now total 411 rigs during the reporting period ending March 6. That is down 15.4% from a year ago according to energy services firm Baker Hughes’ North American Rotary Rig Count report.

This morning, U.S. stock index futures moved higher in the early hours with the S&P 500® (+0.69%), the Nasdaq-100® (+0.81%), the Russell 2000® (+0.82%), and Dow Jones Industrial Average® (+0.47%) all in the green. 

In Asia, major indexes closed mixed, with the Hang Seng (+1.45%) higher, but the Nikkei (–0.13%) and Shanghai (–0.26%) posting losses. 

European trading saw the DAX (+0.27%), the CAC (+0.01%), and the FTSE (+0.42%) markets move higher by midday.

Natural gas futures (/NGJ26) ended Friday’s trading session in the red (–3.15%) as above normal temperatures are expected over much of the U.S. as we head into the start of spring.

According to the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center, temperatures from March 19 to March 25 are expected to run near to above normal across most of the Lower 48 states, with below-normal readings confined to the far Northeast.

In addition, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported U.S. natural gas inventories saw a 38 billion cubic foot (Bcf) draw during the week ending March 6. This was below expectations for a 42 Bcf draw.  U.S. gas inventories are currently –0.9% below the 5-year average but 8.3% above last year. 

Wheat futures (/ZWK26) closed higher on Friday (+2.55%), with the lead-month May contract back over the $6 price level to end the week. USDA weekly wheat export commitments came in at 23.663 million metric tons, up 11% from last year.

Gold futures (/GCJ26) closed lower on Friday (–1.25%) as the U.S. dollar index rose to its highest levels since May. A stronger dollar was acting as a headwind for precious metals prices, sending gold prices lower to end the week.
 

Major economic reports, trading events, and news items that could potentially impact specific futures markets:

New York Empire State Manufacturing Index for March (interest rate)

Industrial Production for February (interest rate)

Capacity Utilization for February (interest rate)

Manufacturing Production for February (interest rate)
 

New futures products are available to trade with a futures-approved account on all thinkorswim platforms: 

• Ripple (/XRP)
• Micro Ripple (/MXP)
• 100 OZ Silver (/SIC)
• 1 OZ Gold (/1OZ)
• Solana (/SOL)
• Micro Solana (/MSL)

Visit the Schwab.com Futures Markets page to explore the wide variety of futures contracts available for trading through Charles Schwab Futures and Forex LLC.