por admin » Dom Jun 03, 2012 11:13 pm
Tecnicamente hablando el petróleo enfrenta problemas
Si los patrones de trading son alguna indicación, el petróleo puede continuar cayendo, a pesar que ya ha bajado 18% en el mes de Mayo, dijeron trades y analistas.
COMMODITIES Updated June 3, 2012, 12:55 p.m. ET
Technically Speaking, Crude-Oil Prices in Trouble
By DAVID BIRD
NEW YORK—If historical trading patterns are any indication, U.S. crude-oil prices should continue to fall after plunging 18% in May, traders and analysts said.
Oil prices dropped in 17 of 22 trading days last month on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest number of losing days in any month since January 1997. That month was the start of a nearly three-year price slide fueled by the Asian economic crisis and oversupply from members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
"To see a fall in 17 days in a month.…You don't want to stand in front of it," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group. "This is historic. It's ominous."
Forecasting the direction of prices by looking at trading patterns is the realm of technical analysis. Such analysis uses statistical charts, based on historical data, suggesting that the market will go up or down once certain price levels are hit—which traders use to decide whether to buy or sell. Many technical adherents are saying that U.S. crude's disastrous month of May indicates prices will fall further.
"Chart positions are looking really ugly," said Jim Ritterbusch, founder of Ritterbusch & Associates, a Galena, Ill., energy-advisory firm. "We've been in a near free fall, with this many days down over a month."
The last time U.S. crude prices fell on 17 days in a month—January 1997—the average of price for crude that month was $25.18 a barrel. The average monthly price didn't top that level again until December 1999.
Dominick Chirichella, an analyst at the Energy Management Institute, a New York-based energy advisory group, sees similarities between that period and now. "Much like last time, we have very high Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries production," he said. "Last time we had a financial crisis in Asia, now we have the entire global economy slowing."
The euro-zone credit crisis has fueled fears for months about sputtering growth in the region and lower oil demand. Recent signs of tepid economic activity elsewhere have compounded those concerns. On Friday, the U.S., the world's leading oil consumer, released a dismal employment report. On the same day, China's purchasing managers' index fell, pointing to sagging manufacturing activity in the world's No. 2 oil consumer.
As in January 1997, OPEC has boosted its crude production. Its supplies outstripped demand by 7.7% in May, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey.
No one is predicting a multiyear swoon for prices, but chart watchers said they see strong evidence of a downturn. And while the 17 days of declines last month wasn't the only sign of further declines, it did stand out for many technical analysts.
Anthony Rosado, a broker at GA Global Markets, echoing the others, said the major blow to prices for traders who track technicals came in mid-May, when crude fell below $95 a barrel. That was the 200-day-moving average price, and a break under the level flashed a strong bearish signal to the market.
"When that happened, I thought, technically it looks like the market is going to fall apart," he said.
Beyond technical analysis, the fundamental of supply and demand isn't looking any better. U.S. stockpiles are swelling as demand recedes and new drilling techniques unlock more oil from U.S. and Canadian shale formations. Crude inventories rose by 2.2 million barrels to 384.7 million barrels for the week ending May 25, the last data available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That's the highest in 22 years.
"We're looking at a weak, weak market, technically and fundamentally," Mr. Ritterbusch said.
Walter Zimmermann, chief technical analyst at United-ICAP, points to $80 a barrel as being the watershed price. U.S. crude prices closed down 3.8% at $83.23 a barrel on Friday.
He said if the price can stay above $80, chart patterns suggest crude may be completing a bull-market correction—or a sharp downward move that doesn't disrupt a longer-term trend higher in prices.
But "crude oil is in deep trouble if it can't hold $80," he said.
Such a breach would set up potential for unraveling down to $45 a barrel, Mr. Zimmermann said. That would be something of a re-enactment of the price collapse from a record intraday high of $147.27 a barrel in July 2008 to an intraday low of $32.40 in December 2008. He didn't offer an opinion whether the $80 price level would hold.