
Below are my spread tables I make everyday for crude oil and natural gas. They allow one to "see" the shape of the complex. As you can see, both markets are currently experiencing what is known as contango. Contango is the "normal price curve" one would expect to see, lower prices in the front months, higher prices at longer dated contracts. Crude has wide spreads in the front months and narrower spreads in the back months. $1-$1.50 is not extremely wide spreads for crude, but it is a bit wide.
The environmental catastrophe that has developed in the Gulf of Mexico after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon hit close to home. I grew up in New Orleans and Mandveille and currently live in Baton Rouge. The leak threatens Louisiana's economy as well as many residents' way of life. Even those not employed in oil or fishing industries include fishing and hunting as a passtime. Additionally, I can't imagine restaurants in the area without fresh gulf fish and other seafood on the menu.
I have been a bull for sometime and have been very happy being so. When Twitter erupts with bears, like Dasan, I find I want to be buying stocks, not selling short. The world of Twitter was fairly quiet yesterday, but I noticed somethings that made me worried that we could be topping out here in equities (not on Twitter). I will not provide exactly what these are on my blog because no free lunches here. Sometimes you have to do your own work. Here is what I am looking at this morning: