In the energy market on Tuesday, oil broke over $50 but then retreated, with crude for February delivery closing at $48.58/barrel, down 23 cents. February reformulated gasoline gained less than ¾ of a cent, to $1.1892/gallon.

“The first attempt against the $50 psychological level is keeping a lid on this market,” said Burton Schlichter, of New World Trading.

But Phil Flynn, of Alaron Trading, was blunter. “Oil is running out of steam because at the end of the day the global crises have not cost the globe one drop of oil,” Flynn said.

Yet, one might add, as supply cuts haven’t really kicked in. Iran and Kuwait said they will deepen curbs on supplies to customers this month, joining OPEC peers in cutting back output, Reuters reported.

Source: Crude Little Changed

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Geo-political tensions are mounting in the global energy game. And that could make investing in oil right now the trade of the year, says Manraaj Singh. Buying shares of oil majors is a good move now. But Manraaj says quality mid-sized oil companies are best placed to return big profits in the next oil bull run.

This from Fleet Street Invest:

Israeli tanks have just rolled into Gaza…Almost three thousand miles away, Nigerian separatist blew-up an oil pipeline over the weekend…Meanwhile, Russia is locked in a dispute over the price of gas with Ukraine. Today they stopped deliveries of natural gas to Ukraine, Turkey and Europe to force the Ukrainians to pay up…

While fears about political instability drive the price of oil back up again, the OPEC oil barons are tightening the screws on global oil supplies…Oil was trading at just $35 per barrel on Christmas Eve. It’s over $50 this

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This market is so wild, so volatile, that I’m calling it the “Andy Warhol market” — everyone gets a turn to be right, but only for 15 minutes at a time! And right now, there are massive forces lined up that could thrust stocks and commodities to the moon … and an equally formidable array of triggers that could send them tumbling lower. The stocks I’ll leave to others … But let me show you the forces that are pushing around gold and oil. Plus I’ll give you four ways to play these wild swings. Gold-ilocks and The 3 Bears I’m generally bullish on gold, so it’s good to acknowledge the bearish forces as well. While total gold demand rose 18% in the third quarter, the fourth quarter was when ...

In the energy market on Friday, oil initially dropped but then busted back to the upside, with crude for February delivery closing at $46.34/barrel, up $1.74 from the short Wednesday session and $7.31 from Tuesday. February reformulated gasoline gained 8 cents from Tuesday, to $1.1105/gallon.

Analysts cited a convergence of factors, including a Russian move to cut off natural gas to Ukraine, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, and OPEC’s projected production cuts.

“A new mood has greeted the early days of 2009 and one that is not so gloomy,” said Phil Flynn, of Alaron Trading.

The Energy Department provided a boost, too, saying yesterday that it will take advantage of low oil prices to buy oil for the 727 million-barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and fill it in 2009. The energy agency said it has issued a solicitation to buy about 12 million barrels of crude oil for the

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The dollar bounces!  ISM was simply awful!  Oil rallies…  Jobs Jamboree this Friday… And Now… Today’s Pfennig! Although, technically, it’s still the Christmas season (it doesn’t end until Jan. 11), the Santa rally that pushed the euro to 1.45, has gone away, and we’re on to the next phase, which I drew out for you over a week ago… And that is… The Obama bounce… This is something we’ll have to deal with for the next few months. It all began with a huge stock rally on Friday, and that won’t be the last one during the Obama bounce.

The dollar is kicking up its heels once again, and this is to be expected during this Obama

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Hello 2009.  What do you have in store for us? Will you finally put the immense problems of the economy behind you? What surprises are you going to spring on us?

Nobody gave me a crystal ball for Christmas. Then again it doesn’t take one to predict a lousy 2009. “More of the same” isn’t much of a prediction, is it? It’s more like a status report projected into the future.

I don’t believe in “more of the same.” Either things will get better or worse. The one thing they won’t do is stay the same. Here are six things I think will happen in ‘09.

1. The BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will have a terrible year. China will compete with the U.S. on who has the bigger government-led infrastructure program. They will also compete on whose is more effective. China’s will be building roads and schools. In addition

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Oil prices have fallen 70% since hitting a record $147.27 a barrel in July, which means in just five months, crude has given up all the price gains it made in the past four years.

After such a wrenching plunge, many analysts believe the outlook for the “black gold” remains bleak – and in the short term it certainly is. In the long run, however, dwindling supplies, resurgent demand, and a lack of investment will cause crude oil to double, triple, or even quintuple in price over the next few years.

In fact, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) – energy advisor to 28 industrialized nations – says oil will rise to $100 a barrel by 2015, as a result of a major “supply crunch,” and will ultimately soar to $200 a barrel.

But before it does, prices are likely to sink even further, perhaps falling as low as $20 a barrel in

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Oil falls after two sessions of gains… Israeli offensive goes into fourth day…  OPEC output set to fall further in December

Oil fell below $40 a barrel on Tuesday, pressured by gloom about prospects for world economic growth which outweighed heightened tensions in the Middle East due to the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

Prices had jumped as much as 12 percent on Monday after Israel launched its fiercest air offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip in decades.

U.S. crude was down 77 cents at $39.25 a barrel by 1151 GMT, having earlier touched a session high of $40.39.

London Brent fell 60 cents to $39.95.

“With most global economies struggling and credit markets still in an impaired state, it is hard to get too excited about the upside potential in energy markets attributable solely to geopolitical factors unless, of course, these are directed at the heart

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“Global Demand for Oil to Plummet,” screams a recent Financial Times headline.   Huh?  No it won’t.  Who are they trying to kid?

Global oil demand is not going to “plummet.”  And for the FT to say so is just plain silly, if not irresponsible.  OK, I know.  There’s an old saying that they teach in journalism schools.  “You have to sell newspapers.”  But this declaration by the FT highlights the perils of letting a headline-writer do your thinking for you.  It’s what I call “arguing a screaming conclusion.”  And a wrong conclusion at that.

Oil Demand – Down, Then Up

But let’s move past the headlines.  The Financial Times article explains that the World Bank has just issued a new study.  The World Bank believes that the world is entering into the toughest economic times “since the Great Depression.”  Thus overall world oil demand may fall by about half a million barrels per

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This morning, we are seeing gold build on its sizeable gains from last week, and oil is up as well. The reason for the move in oil is simple: The explosive conflict in the Middle East is acting as a catalyst on an oil market that was already deeply oversold.brimg style=WIDTH: 480px alt= src=http://local.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/7e88b461-578b-47f3-88ec-038e212ad053/aa0ff38d-9bb9-44a5-bba5-8be30d8f6977/dailyoil1.png _width=75 _height=75brHere is some of the news driving oil this morning ...br A href=http://us.rd.yahoo.com/finance/news/topnews/*http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081229/oil_prices.htmlSTRONGOil jumps above $40 on Gaza conflict/STRONG/A: Tensions generated by a widening conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants sent crude prices up sharply to above $40 a barrel Monday, with gasoline and heating oil also making sizable gains.br Defense Minister Ehud Barak said A href=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087sid=aX1tMtYlUNBkamp;refer=homeSTRONGIsrael is fighting a “war to the death” with Hamas/STRONG/A, the group that controls Gaza. Prices also advanced as China, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, said it will supplement its emergency oil stockpiles while prices are low, and the United Arab ...