Oil: an overview of the market situation

Prices for WTI crude oil rose again today, recording with the fifth session gain in a row and the longest series in April, as the strengthening of the unrest in Egypt strengthened fears that shipments from the Middle East may be reduced. We also add that the price of Brent crude oil rose to a four-month high today.

Futures rose 1%, after the government of Egypt has announced a state of emergency. The Egyptian authorities have reported that the number of those killed in the civil confrontation between Islamists and security forces has risen to 525 people. The true number of victims is much higher, since there are a lot of unregistered medical victims. Islamists, supporters of President Mohammed Mursi, who overthrew the last month, claiming that killed more than 2,000 people. The U.S. and other countries condemned the Egyptian security forces for actions that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called a "very serious massacre." It should be noted that the situation in Egypt could continue to have an impact on oil prices, raising it to a price that is primarily associated with the probability of blocking the Suez Canal, which is used by tankers to transport oil to Europe and North America from the Arabian Peninsula.

According to the International Energy Agency, the Middle East accounted for about 35 percent of global oil production in the first quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, we add that the course of trade is also affected by the U.S. data. As it became known, the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level since the recession began, a sign of strengthening labor market.

The number of applications for unemployment benefits fell by 15,000 adjusted for seasonal variation was 320,000. This is the lowest level since October 2007. Economists had expected initial claims to 334,000.

The moving average of initial claims in four weeks, smoothing the volatility of weekly data, fell by 4,000 to 332,000, with at least November 2007.

Note that the Fed closely watching the situation in the labor market, since it affects, whether the Fed will begin to curtail bond purchase program by 85 billion dollars a month, when the unemployment rate reached 7.0%.

The cost of the September futures on U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) rose to 107.59 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

September futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture rose to $ 111.25 a barrel on the London exchange ICE Futures Europe.