Coffee With Greta: Oil Soars to 13-Year High
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DJIA Futures: -189 (-0.6%)
SPX Futures: -22 (-0.5%)
NASDAQ Futures: -86 (-0.6%)
Good morning friends!
Futures are lower as oil prices spike to new highs.
Let’s get right to it!
Oil Prices Hit 13-Year High
Oil prices are still rallying as the war in Ukraine continues.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures are up 3.5% at just under $120 per barrel while Brent crude futures are up nearly 4% to over $122 per barrel.
That’s a cool down from Sunday evening when both hit the highest price since July 2008. WTI crude futures hit a high of $130.50 and Brent prices surged to $139.13.
U.S. gas prices are surging alongside oil.
Data from AAA shows the national average for a gallon of regular gas is now $4.065, the highest since 2008.
Western officials are now considering a ban of Russian oil after previously refusing to do so.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN Sunday, “We are now talking to our European partners and allies to look in a coordinated way at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also sent a letter to her Democrat colleagues saying the lower chamber is “exploring strong legislation” to ban Russian oil imports.
Energy stocks have been a bright spot amid the turmoil caused by rising oil prices.
The VanEck Oil Services ETF (OIH) is up 2.9% in premarket trade and has surged more than 41% YTD.
Chevron (CVX) shares are up 1% with Exxon Mobil (XOM) rising 0.5%.
T3 Live’s weekly market sentiment survey shows traders feeling less bullish on oil.
65% of respondents said they believe oil prices will go up in the next 30 days, down from 76% last week.
Wheat, Corn Prices Surge
Oil isn’t the only commodity that has skyrocketed amid the war in Ukraine.
For the fifth session in a row, Wheat futures trading was halted after hitting limit-up at $12.94 per bushel.
Corn futures are also up 0.6% at 759¢ per bushel.
Russia accounts for 17% and Ukraine accounts for 12% of the world’s wheat exports.
Gold Pops
Gold prices surged above $2,000 an ounce Sunday as traders flee to safer assets.
The precious metal hit a peak of $2,005.20 per ounce, the highest price since August 2020.
Prices have since pulled back, currently gold is up 0.6% at $1,978 an ounce.
Gold prices surged 4.2% last week, the largest weekly gain since July 2020.
Bed Bath & Beyond Soars
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) shares are skyrocketing 84.6% ahead of the open after GameStop’s (GME) Chairman revealed a large stake in the company.
Ryan Cohen has a nearly 10% stake in Bed Bath & Beyond through his investment company RC Ventures.
In a letter to the retailer’s board, Cohen said, “We believe Bed Bath needs to narrow its focus to fortify operations and maintain the right inventory mix to meet demand, while simultaneously exploring strategic alternatives that include separating Buybuy Baby, and a full sale of the company.”
Bed Bath responded in a statement saying, “We will carefully review their letter and hope to engage constructively around the ideas they have put forth. 2021 marked the first year of execution of our bold, multi-year transformation plan, which we believe will create significant long-term shareholder value.”
Cohen’s stake in the company makes him a top five shareholder in Bed Bath & Beyond.
In Case You Missed It
- “The Batman” brought in the second-largest opening weekend haul amid the pandemic. The film raked in $128.5 million in ticket sales over the weekend, topping expectations for $110 million. It’s only the second film to top $100 million in sales on its opening weekend since March 2020, behind “Spider Man: No Way Home”.