[Doly]

Hmmm... A good conspiracy theorist would suggest that the trade was done by somebody who expected the psychologically important $100 to appear on the news, and trigger something else to go up/down...

[smiley]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'i')t still seems that $100 is a very strong psychologicl barrier the market is reluctant to decisively break through

[Revi]

The $100 price is a harbinger of things to come. I think it will get people's attention, anyway. I heard it from friends who heard it on the radio. It was on the news as well tonight. It drove the stock market down. It is a psychologically important number. Most people haven't been watching the markets like us peak freaks. They only pay attention when it hits the $100 mark.

We're there.

[lowem]

When the coffeeshop near my place raised their prices by 20% on the first day of 2008, I thought, this is going to be a fun and inflationary year.

And then we hit $100 oil on the first trading day of the year.
And gold hits $859, breaching its $850 all-time record in Jan 1980.

We're living in very interesting times.

[cynthia]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', 'T')he $100 price is a harbinger of things to come. I think it will get people's attention, anyway. I heard it from friends who heard it on the radio. It was on the news as well tonight. It drove the stock market down. It is a psychologically important number. Most people haven't been watching the markets like us peak freaks. They only pay attention when it hits the $100 mark.

We're there.

[Smudger]

the rumours are that Nymex is trying to give the trader a spank for making the $100 trade as it was outside the market

[Leanan]

Zahl, please don't post long links like that (the one to Fox Business). It stretches the screen and ruins the thread. Use the "Link" button instead. (The one with the chain links.)

Here's FT's report on it:

Lone trader breaks the $100 barrier

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ome observers questioned the validity of the price mark when it emerged that the peak was the result of a trader - one of the "locals" who trade on their own money - buying from a colleague just 1,000 barrels of crude, the minimum allowed, industry insiders said. The deal on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange was at a hefty premium to prevailing prices.

Insiders named the trader as Richard Arens, who runs a brokerage called ABS. He was not available for comment. Analysts said he may have been testing the ceiling of the crude price, but the premium he paid surprised the market.

Before the $100-a-barrel trade, oil prices on Globex were at $99.53 a barrel. Immediately after the trade, prices went down to about $99.40, suggesting a trading loss of $600 for Mr Arens.

Stephen Schork, a former Nymex floor trader and editor of the oil-market Schork Report, commented: "A local trader just spent about $600 in a trading loss to buy the right to tell his grandchildren he was the one who did it. Probably he is framing right now the print reflecting the trade."

The transaction was not shown at first on the electronic Globex system, which carries the bulk of crude oil trading, leaving the market unsure about the price level. But Nymex said: "It is considered a valid trade."

[PeakingAroundtheCorner]

Another intraday record:

$100.05

[Bas]

the price just seems to keep on bouncing off the ceiling right now, I got 99,99 as the day's high on online trading account screen.

[Bas]

just 100,09...well that's it for me....

[idomar]

cool............but now what?

[Geko45]

Kinda pretty, in a doomer porn kinda way...

[Zardoz]

Oil Trades Near $100 as OPEC Officials Say They Can't End Rally

As if they would want to.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')rude oil traded near yesterday's record of $100 a barrel as OPEC officials said the group can't curb prices and the U.S. refused to release emergency supplies.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is unable to counter the rally, Libyan and Qatari officials said today. The U.S. doesn't plan to tap strategic reserves, a spokeswoman for President Bush said yesterday. A report today is expected to show U.S. commercial stockpiles fell for a seventh week.

"The U.S. government's refusal to open the SPR, especially with cold weather approaching, is helping to keep prices near that $100 record,'' said Robert Laughlin, a senior broker at MG Global Ltd. in London. "OPEC, while under pressure after yesterday's high, will ignore it.''

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '[')url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=axiLVrRoyVYI&refer=energy]Oil Trades Near $100 as OPEC Officials Say They Can't End Rally[/url]

As if they would want to.

[Tanada]

What an idiot, the SPR is for emergencies, not to help the economy limp along when the consumers start pouting iver prices.

[EnergyUnlimited]

I think, we will have to get used to idea of oil above $100, unless some substantial economic meltdown comes fast.

Meantime we will hear from all sort of "experts" that:

1. It is only due to speculators.
2. Few tribesmen hijacking 1 or 2 drunk oil workers in Nigeria.
3. Iraqi insurgents killing additional US soldier.
4. It is irrational.
5. There was some fire in obscure refinery that no one heard about until now.
6. From time to time archival photos of Ahmadinejad threatening Israel with erasing from map will be shown.

Additionally:

1. Saudi oil ministry will declare that they can provide a market for 50 (or may be 500...) years more.
2. NASA will declare inexhaustible oil finds on Titan.
3. Petrobrass will drill few holes more, find 100 millions of barrels but declare 10 billions.
4. Graeme will present us with technology of converting shale into oil with giant microwave oven.
5. Market analysts will say that expensive oil is a sign of unexpected economic growth.

...and this will go on and on until your local gas station get dry.

And then panic will follow.

[Leanan]

Oil breaks $100 as U.S. stockpiles drop

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '-') Oil prices broke above $100 a barrel for the first time on Thursday after a U.S. government report showed a steep slide in crude inventories in the world's biggest energy consumer.

...U.S. crude climbed 47 cents to $100.09 a barrel by 11:57 a.m. EST, breaking Wednesday's record high of $100 even. Brent crude rose 45 cents to $98.29 a barrel.

[Armageddon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', '[')url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080103/bs_nm/markets_oil_dc_22;_ylt=Atpg5Ie_doDHdYxxpMmsSUmAsnsA]Oil breaks $100 as U.S. stockpiles drop[/url]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '-') Oil prices broke above $100 a barrel for the first time on Thursday after a U.S. government report showed a steep slide in crude inventories in the world's biggest energy consumer.

...U.S. crude climbed 47 cents to $100.09 a barrel by 11:57 a.m. EST, breaking Wednesday's record high of $100 even. Brent crude rose 45 cents to $98.29 a barrel.

[Leanan]

Nobody knows for sure what MOL are...but I think we've been at them for months.

There have been shortages in the midwest - Colorado, Iowa, and especially the Dakotas (the end of the pipeline) since spring. That is what you expect to see when you're below MOL. Spot shortages.

But apparently, no one cares if it's not happening in NY or LA.

[Zahl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Armageddon', 'A')re inventories getting close to MOL yet ? Does anyone have a graph showing the decline in the US inventory?