Oil sets record near $128; pump price at high, too
NEW YORK(AP) — News that Saudi Arabia had boosted its oil output by 300,000 barrels a day was greeted as a non-event on oil markets — the move wasn’t anywhere near the kind of production increase needed to bring prices down on Friday.
And traders were equally unimpressed by the U.S. government’s plan to stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
One day, two moves designed to allay concerns about an overheated oil market that’s squeezing motorists and inflating the prices of all sorts of goods.
The response in the oil trading pits? Traders did what they’ve been doing for months now, and pushed crude oil and gasoline futures to new highs.
‘‘All in all, we’re seeing another strong move here on little fundamental news,’’ said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates, an oil trading advisory firm in Galena, Ill.
The reason for the disconnect has little to do with political decisions in Washington or Riyadh, and everything to do with market expectations. The Saudi production increase was seen in the market as minuscule, and no one expected the suspension of shipments to the U.S. government’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to have much impact on supplies.
Even more important, the traders placing the bets expect prices to just keep moving higher.
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