Crude oil futures seem to be at a stand-still as concerns over US shale production being revived are contemplated. Crude oil futures are up a nominal .40 cents today currently trading at $60.73 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Yesterday, government data showed domestic gasoline inventories rose by a half-million barrels last week – distillate stockpiles increasing by 100K barrels – at a time when the US “driving season” has entered its peak gasoline demand period. Crude oil inventories, on the other hand, fell a little less than expected during this same time period.

Mixed signals seem to plague the crude oil (futures) market, but nothing really bullish on the horizon,” said Barb Levy, chief director for The Fox Group’s futures division in Chicago, sharing his view regarding the fundamental assessment of the crude oil futures market. Levy added, With crude oil (futures) trading sideways for the better part of two months now, when it breaks out it has the potential to run.”

Crude oil futures entered into a down-trend at the end of last month according to my study. Follow through to the crude oil futures downside can have a positive effect for the consumer, and we may see this in the second-half of the year.

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