Oil ETFs continue to rise on Greece & US hope and Iran fears

Oil prices and Oil ETFs continued their rise today on Greece hopes, positive US economic indicators, and Iran fears.  Oil rose .90% to close at $103.24 per barrel while oil ETFs including the United States Oil Fund LP (NYSEARCA:USO), the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return ETF (NYSEARCA:OIL), the PowerShares DB Oil Fund ETF (NYSEARCA:DBO), and the SPDR Select Sector Energy ETF (NYSEARCA:XLE) all rose about 1% today on average.

The increase in oil prices and oil ETFs is likely based on several factors, the main factor being the hope that Greece receives its bailout package on Monday.  If the EU saves Greece and the Euro, it would at least symbolize that the Eurozone is dedicated to saving its economy; since growing economies require oil, oil prices would likely rise with a recovering Eurozone.

Economies like the US Economy also require gobs of oil for growth, and since the US has released several economic reports indicating positive (but slow) growth, these reports likely boost sentiment for oil as fuel for growth.

The last factor which has likely contributed to higher oil prices is Iran, which has reacted to western embargoes with threats to shut off their oil supplies. Sudan and Yemen have already seen supply shortages, which might indicate that Iran is serious in its intentions.  If Iran does shut off their oil supplies, oil prices will likely skyrocket due to lack of supply.

Oil ETF Summary:

1. United States Oil Fund LP ETF (NYSEARCA:USO): +0.46 (1.17%)
2. iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return ETF (NYSEARCA:OIL): +0.32 (1.23%)
3. PowerShares DB Oil Fund ETF (NYSEARCA:DBO): +0.27 (0.90%)
4. SPDR Select Sector Energy ETF (NYSEARCA:XLE): +0.30 (0.40%)

Bottom Line: Oil ETFs continued their rise today on Greece hopes, US economic growth, and continued Iranian tensions.  If Greece is bailed out, the US economy continues to grow, and/or Iran decides to blow a gasket, oil and oil ETFs will likely continue to rise.

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Disclaimer: Wall Street Sector Selector trades a wide variety of ETFs and positions can change at any time.

About John Nyaradi (http://www.wallstreetsectorselector.com) John Nyaradi is Publisher of Wall Street Sector Selector: Your Home For ETF Investing! John writes a weekly guest column, John Nyaradi’s ETF Edge for MarketWatch.com and his investment articles have appeared in many online publications including Trading Markets, Money Show, Yahoo Finance, Investors Insight, Fidelity, ETF Daily News, iStock Analyst , among many others. His book, Super Sectors: How to Outsmart the Market Using Sector Rotation and ETFs, is published by John Wiley and Sons and included among the Years Top Investment Books in the 2011 Stock Trader’s Almanac.