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A roundup of what The Globe and Mail’s market strategist Scott Barlow is reading today on the Web

Oil markets looked to break their record string of 10 consecutive losing sessions Monday, until U.S. president Donald Trump chimed in and warned Saudi Arabia not to cut production. So 11 days it is, and with the commodity price down sharply Tuesday morning, 12 days of losses look likely.

Early Tuesday morning, OPEC released demand estimates pointing oversupply conditions for 2019,

“In a monthly report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said world oil demand next year would rise by 1.29 million barrels per day, 70,000 bpd less than predicted last month and the fourth consecutive reduction in its forecast… “Although the oil market has reached a balance now, the forecasts for 2019 for non-OPEC supply growth indicate higher volumes outpacing the expansion in world oil demand, leading to widening excess supply in the market,” OPEC said in the report.”

“OPEC makes the case for a supply cut, risking the wrath of Trump” – Report on Business

“Oil down 2 percent after Trump urges OPEC not to cut supply” – Reuters

“Canada’s oil producers can’t catch a break” – Bloomberg

“How large speculators are fuelling oil’s record-breaking losing streak” – Barlow, Inside the Market

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Merrill Lynch released its widely read monthly fund manager survey Monday and concludes that “We stay bearish",

“Investor positioning does not yet signal The Big Low in asset markets (likely Q2’19 at earliest)…BofAML Bull & Bear Indicator @ 3.1, i.e. no “extreme bear" contrarian buy signal… allocation to global tech sector collapsed to lowest level since Feb’09 (and “long FAANG+BAT” still #1 FMS “crowded trade”); ominously Nov FMS showed no investor rotation from tech to “value”, i.e. banks, small cap, industrials, EAFE.”

“@SBarlow_ROB ML: "ominously Nov FMS showed no investor rotation from tech to “value”” – (research excerpt) Twitter

“Fears of peak iPhone rattle Asian Apple suppliers” – Reuters

“Pullback in big tech stocks shakes investor confidence” – Shufelt, Inside the Market

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BNN Bloomberg quotes cannabis analyst predicting that prices in the sector will plummet if legalization in Colorado is a precedent,

“Tom Adams, managing director of industry intelligence at BDS Analytics, a cannabis industry analysis firm, said Canadian marijuana prices should tumble in line with how the legal market performed alongside black market players in other markets such as Colorado. The price of pot has declined in that state by over 50 per cent in the past five years … Adams’ comments come following a report he authored that found the amount of dried cannabis flower pot producers will need to grow to meet worldwide demand (including concentrates, edibles and other products) will rise to 6.9 million pounds in 2022, up from 2.1 million pounds in 2017.”

“Canadian pot prices to plummet amid soaring demand: Analyst” – BNN Bloomberg

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Tweet of the Day:

Diversion: “Criminal profiling doesn’t work. TV shows should maybe stop celebrating it” – Vox

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