Stocks hit record highs because you know, “sacred cow” and also because of some reassuring words from the President…
After a day in which it spent some time in double-digits, the VIX stayed at a 9-handle all day:
Oil rose to a near six-week high after the EIA report showed crude and product stockpiles fell last week with gasoline supplies falling to the lowest level since December. Of course crude production rose. U.S. crude inventories drew 4.73m bbl last week – that compares to the 1.63m bbl build API reported on Tuesday afternoon. Gasoline supplies drew to the tune of -4.45m bbl, the biggest drop since March:
“The combination of lower oil inventories, lower gasoline and diesel, that trifecta is supportive for higher prices, so that’s a good thing,” Rob Thummel, managing director and portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital Advisors, which manages $16b in energy-related assets, told Bloomberg by phone, adding that “we’re continuing to see the trend of lower inventories, not just in oil, but also gasoline as well.” We’ll see how it pans out, Rob.
This helped energy and drillers lead S&P gains. Here’s XLE and XOP:
The T-bill curve is inverted as investors are freaking out about the debt ceiling (remember this: “we’re going to do so much winning”?):
Here’s some color on that rather unfortunate state of affairs:
