Hamas attack

Oil up, capital flows into safe haven on Mid-East tensions By Ipek Ozkardeskaya, Senior Analyst | Swissquote Bank   Capital flows into the safety of US dollar and gold this morning, while oil is up almost 4% after Hamas' unexpected attack on Israel wreaked havoc in the region last Friday, and tensions have been mounting since then. There are rumours that Iran helped Hamas organize its attack, and the US said it's sending warships to the region. The escalation of the tensions sent a panic wave into the financial markets on Monday open. The barrel of American crude traded past $87pb, as fears of a potential retaliation against Iran threaten the passage of vessels carrying oil through the Strait of Hormuz and flip the market rhetoric from a potentially slowing global oil demand to tight global supply.   It is difficult to predict the extent of the price action on geopolitical shocks. The fact that the US and Iran are pulled into the turmoil hints that tensions may further escalate. From a price perspective, the $90pb level is expected to shelter decent offers in US crude, as escalation and prolongation of Mid-East tensions could be the final straw that could bring the world very close to the brink of recession, and temper appetite for oil. It's too early to call.   From a geopolitical perspective, this war is different from the one in 1973 because the political and the geopolitical landscape is unalike. First Arabic countries are not attacking Israel together. Second, OPEC countries do have spare capacity that they restrict willingly to maintain oil price at above the $80pb, but they don't necessarily think of tripling oil prices – which would only accelerate the energy transition. Third, yes, the US could continue to tap into its strategic oil reserves to level out a potential price shock even though SPR is down to a 40-year low following the Ukrainian war and finally, the Ukrainian war and embargo on Russian oil are already in play and the West has little margin to impose another embargo on Arab oil. This being said, potential retaliation against Tehran is a serious upside risk for oil prices. We will keep an eye on developments, but don't speculate on a full-blast rise in oil prices for now.   Trading in Asia was mixed, stocks in Tel Aviv lost 6.5%, sentiment in Europe is sour and the US equity futures are down. Gold acts as a strong safe haven. The price of an ounce jumped past the $1850 level this morning, and further escalation of tensions should drive capital into the safety of gold. The upside potential extends to a distant $2000 per ounce, but gains due to geopolitical tensions are not expected to last long. What will remain decisive for gold's medium, long-term performance will be the US yields. For now, they are on a rising path.   Even though last Friday seems like it was ages ago, the NFP printed a shocker 336K new nonfarm job additions. But the wages growth was softer than expected and the unemployment rate held steady at 3.8%, instead of cooling down to 3.7% as expected by analysts. Expectations of November rate hike are steady, there is near 80% chance of no rate hike.  This week, the market attention will shift to the big bank earnings, and to the latest US inflation update. The US consumer price inflation is seen easing from 0.7% to 0.3% on a monthly basis thanks to the cooling energy prices over the past month, and the yearly CPI figure could soften from 3.7% to 3.6%. The core CPI, which is more important for the Fed expectations, is expected to have eased to 4.1%. The US 10-year yield is at the highest level since 2007; no surprise or a good surprise could spark interest from bond traders at the current levels.  

EUR/USD Friday's US labor data for September surpassed expectations. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 336,000 for the month, better than the consensus estimate for 170,000, and the change for August was revised up by 40,000. The unemployment remained unchanged at 3.8%, and a broader measure of unemployment dropped to 7.0% from 7.1% in August. The initial market reaction was quite natural, with the dollar rising and the euro losing 80 pips. However, the dollar was sold off across a wide range of markets, including stock markets and commodities. As a result, the dollar index closed the day down by 0.26%, the S&P 500 rose 1.18%, and oil increased by 0.61% (WTI).   The market's counteraction to strong data is certainly a compelling argument in favor of further (although not quite prolonged) euro growth. From a technical standpoint, we saw a rebound from the point of intersection of the price channel line and support level of 1.0483, afterwards the quote exceeded the Fibonacci retracement level at 1.0578. The Marlin oscillator has moved into bullish territory. Now, after breaking through the nearest resistance level at 1.0613, we are waiting for the price to reach the target level of 1.0687 and maybe even 1.0777.   On the 4-hour chart, the price has settled above 1.0578. The morning gap that occurred due to the Hamas attack on Israel will soon be closed. The price is growing above the indicator lines. The Marlin oscillator has firmly strengthened in the bullish territory. We expect the euro to rise further.  

What next for UK oil and gas after a year of lower profits  By Michael Hewson (Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets UK) In contrast to the strong gains seen in 2022 the oil and gas sector has had a much more mixed year as a sharp fall in natural gas prices, and a slowdown in oil prices saw profits return to more normal levels for the sector. In 2022 the likes of Exxon Mobil and Shell saw share price gains in excess of 60%, as both oil giants reaped the benefits of higher margins as they bounced back from the huge losses posted during the Covid pandemic. As a whole the sector posted losses of $76bn with around $70bn of that amount as a result of write-downs and impairments on unviable or stranded assets. As with last year the challenge for the likes of Exxon Mobil, BP and Royal Dutch Shell remains in how they transition towards a renewable future without hammering their margins, and while we've seen a period of share price consolidation this year, we've also seen a shift in tone away from keeping the green lobby happy. There now seems to be a more hard-nosed and pragmatic approach, which has helped both Exxon and Shell's share price make new record highs over the second half of the year, although as oil and gas prices have declined so have share prices.   Consolidation year for BP and Shell As a whole the sector saw demand and prices collapse during that Covid period and it would appear that those experiences during that time may have shaped OPEC's response to this year's supply and demand concerns. Fearing another oversupply issue OPEC and Russia have kept much tighter control over production output, announcing cuts in April and then continuing those caps through the summer and into next year in an attempt to keep a floor under prices.   Along with further geopolitical uncertainty on top of Russia's war in Ukraine, in October we also had to contend with the Hamas savage attack on Israel's northern border, and Israel's response which prompted concerns over transit routes around the Gulf region.   With inflationary pressures subsiding and energy prices stabilising at lower levels the oil and gas sector for now appears to focussing on what it does best in generating cash, with new CEOs for both Shell and BP marking a potential shift in thinking when it comes to renewables. Under their previous incumbents, Shell's Ben Van Buerden and BP's Patrick Looney the focus was very much on transitioning away from oil and gas and towards a much lower margin future of renewable energy.    While a laudable goal it soon became apparent that while the politics was very much geared to that, there was a growing realisation that it couldn't be done cheaply and not without enormous damage to the energy and economic security of everybody. When Wael Sarwan took over as CEO of Shell he recognised this reality quickly, pushing back against the prevailing narrative and outright hysteria of politicians and activists that it could be done cheaply and easily.   In June he pushed back by saying that "We need to continue to create profitable business models that can be scaled at pace to truly impact the decarbonisation of the global energy system. We will invest in the models that work – those with the highest returns that play to our strengths" in a broadside at some of the recent reckless narrative and almost hysterical calls to cut back on fossil fuel use whatever the cost. While this has caused some unease in some parts of the Shell business it appears to be an acknowledgment of the reality that the transition to renewables will be a gradual process especially given the current levels of geopolitical uncertainty that are serving to drive the costs of the energy transition ever higher.   It is a little worrying that politicians have been unable to grasp this reality, continuing to push the myth that wind power is cheap, as the silent majority push back over the reality that the transition will be ruinously expensive if done too quickly.   When Shell reported its Q2 numbers in July profits fell short of expectations due to the sharp falls in both natural gas and crude oil prices that occurred over that quarter. The rally in oil and gas prices since then has ensured that this didn't happen in Q3 with profits coming in line with forecasts, which given that all its peers saw their numbers come in light was particularly notable.   Q3 profits came in at $6.22bn, in line with expectations helped by improvements in refining margins as well as higher oil and gas prices and a better performance in its trading division. The integrated gas part of the business saw profits remain steady and were in line with Q2 at $2.5bn.   Upstream saw a solid improvement on Q2's $1.68bn, rising to $2.22bn, although we've still seen a steep fall from the same quarter last year. On renewables we saw that part of the business sink to a loss of -$67m, due to lower margins and seasonal impacts in Europe, as well as higher operating expenses. Shell's chemicals and products division also did much better in Q3, its profits rising to $1.38bn helped by an improvement in refining margins due to lower global product supply as well as higher margins in trading and optimisation, although chemicals were still a drag on profitability overall.   On the outlook Shell nudged the upper end of expectations for capital expenditure down by $1bn to between $23bn to $25bn, as well as increasing the buyback to $3.5bn. While Shell's share price has held up reasonably well the same can't be said for BP which while holding onto last year's gains has lagged behind Shell, although BP was able to get close to its February highs in the middle of October.