Energy futures rebound on news of storm

NEW YORK – Energy futures rebounded from earlier lows on Friday as traders bought on news that a tropical storm is forming in the Atlantic Ocean and a report of a refinery problem.

“A disturbance just left the coast of Africa, and it looks like it has a little bit of teeth,” said James Cordier, president of Liberty Trading Group in Tampa, Fla.


Forecasts show the disturbance has the potential to develop into a tropical storm and strike the Gulf of Mexico within 2 weeks, said Addison Armstrong, an analyst at TFS Energy Futures LLC in Stamford, Conn.

The news injected some buying into a market that has been dominated by selling lately. Still, the new “storm premium” was moderate as the same credit and liquidity concerns roiling equity markets continued to weigh against storm forecasts and a report from an international watchdog agency that predicted tight supplies of oil amid growing demand over the next two years.

AP