Brace yourself because $20 oil could be next for this market
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Critical information ahead of the U.S. market’s open

Getty Images Crude, meet Andrew Jackson. D MA MB MC MD ME MG ZF ZG ZQ ZR ZS ZT ZU
Those looking for some December cheer may instead face a few more gloomy sessions, given oil’s seemingly endless drop.

Global stocks aren’t too happy about things this morning, and that includes U.S. stock futures as investors still come to grips with the notion that OPEC really is just going to stand by and watch crude prices keep tanking. There isn’t any big data to distract us today and the Fed meeting is still a week away, so there may be nothing to watch but oil.

The chatter this morning is about how hard it’s going to be for oil to recover from the latest fallout. Those looking for elements of support aren’t finding much, and that's laid out in our call of the day, which says prepare for $20 a barrel. This all follows oil’s plunge yesterday to a fresh 7-year low under $38.

Clearly, Wall Street is struggling right now to see silver linings in yet another crumble by crude, though gas prices are set to get real cheap. Still, investors should take comfort from the likelihood that this fresh tumble won’t weigh on overall earnings like last year, says Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research. The earnings share of the S&P’s energy sector (XLE) is down from a high of 12.1% last year to just 4.2% at the end of November, he says in a note to clients.

Yardeni says his shop isn’t going to lower 2016 and 2017 earnings forecasts for this market, in the wake of this latest oil rout. “We did so at the end of 2014 and early 2015 because we expected lower oil prices and a stronger dollar to weigh on earnings,” he says. While that scenario may continue into early next year, the hit won’t be as bad as last year, he says.

Drop lo .......drop lo ......Oil’s slump to a six-year low damped the outlook for Asian equities, with index futures from Tokyo to Hong Kong signaling losses following a selloff in U.S. energy producers. Australia’s dollar was weaker amid a slump in iron ore prices, before data on Chinese trade projected to show ongoing deterioration in the region’s largest economy.

Nikkei 225 Stock Average futures slipped 0.5 percent in Osaka with U.S. crude closing below $38 a barrel after OPEC abandoned its strategy of limiting production despite a glut in the commodity. Global energy stocks sank the most since Aug. 24 on Monday. The Aussie was near its lowest level in a week and futures on equities in Sydney signaled losses after prices for iron ore, the country’s biggest export earner, slid to a record low.

Dec. 6, 2015 7:44 p.m. ET
OPEC Maintains Production: Oil Goes To $20?
By Shuli Ren
Oil extended its losses in Asian Monday morning hours after OPEC said last Friday that it would maintain production at the current levels and made no decision on a new target ceiling.
“Today’s decision came in line with our view that it is not in OPEC’s interest to balance the market on its own in the face of still growing higher cost production,” wrote Goldman Sachs.

DROP LO .....Drop lo....The Canadian dollar dropped to the weakest level in more than 11 years on speculation the nation’s oil-dependent economy will suffer from a global crude glut.
The currency weakened against most of its major peers as crude oil prices fell below $40 after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries effectively abandoned its long-time strategy of limiting production to control prices after a meeting on Dec. 4. Data showed last week Canada’s unemployment rate unexpectedly rose last month, and the merchandise trade deficit widened more than forecast.
The loonie, as the Canadian dollar is known for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, fell 1 percent to C$1.3499 per U.S. dollar at 5 p.m. in Toronto. One loonie buys 74.08 U.S. cents.

Drop lo ....drop lo .....NEW YORK (AP) — A sharp drop in the price of oil on Monday rattled investors and helped push stocks lower across several industries.

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Investors sold from the start of trading following a decision by OPEC last week not to cut production. Benchmark U.S. crude dropped nearly 6 percent, deepening its stunning 1½ year plunge, to close at its lowest level in nearly seven years. The losses were broad, with seven of the 10 industry sectors in the Standard & Poor's 500 index closing lower.

NEW YORK (AP) — A sharp drop in the price of oil on Monday rattled investors and helped push stocks lower across several industries
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Investors sold from the start of trading following a decision by OPEC last week not to cut production. Benchmark U.S. crude dropped nearly 6 percent, deepening its stunning 1½ year plunge, to close at its lowest level in nearly seven years. The losses were broad, with seven of the 10 industry sectors in the Standard & Poor's 500 index closing lower.

Drop lo...drop lo ......

Oil job cuts: Here are the US regions most at risk

The recent surge in U.S. oil and gas production has also brought a boom in jobs and wages for oilfield workers. Now, as production pulls back, major oil regions are likely to see those economic windfalls fade as well.
To gauge the impact, CNBC looked at seven major U.S. oil-producing regions for which both production and county-level employment data is available.
The results show that the energy boom in the seven regions examined has propelled job creation and wages far above the national averages.
Between 2007 and March of this year (the latest data available), the total level of private employment in the 248 counties in our analysis rose by 5.6 percent — more than twice the national gain of 2.7 percent. Much of the hiring, of course, came in the natural resources and mining sector, which posted job gains of 52 percent.
The oil hiring boom also brought a big boost in local wages that far outpaced the national average. Between 2007 and March of 2015, oilfield workers in the seven fields in our analysis saw their average wage rise by 48 percent to $1,120. The average national paycheck is $857 a week.
The Bakken field in North Dakota stands out for its wage and job growth, largely because it's among the newest fields and because the region had the smallest workforce when production started ramping up a decade ago.
Total employment more than doubled to 131,000 in the Bakken counties we analyzed, but that was still far below employment in larger, more established fields such as the Permian Basin in Texas or the sprawling Marcellus in Pennsylvania. Wages also posted the biggest gains in the Bakken; for all private sector workers, wages jumped 81 percent, to $1,055. For those working in the natural resources sector, wages more than doubled to $1,467 a week.
Now, as a crash in oil prices has many oil producers cutting back on new drilling, many boomtown counties face the prospect of a painful oil bust. That said, many of the production gains in those counties have come from improved methods and technologies that generate more output per worker.

Drop lo ...drop lo ....

If like this trend , sure Hibiscus share prices will drop below 0.10 by year end , some more all fund managers will start go for their holidays.....I can't find any reason why Hibiscus share prices can go up !

Tokyo stocks end sharply lower on ECB stimulus disappointment
Tokyo stocks ended sharply lower Friday, joining a global equities rout after the European Central Bank's revised stimulus plan fell short of expectations.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 2.18 percent, or 435.42 points, at 19,504.48, while the Topix index of all first-section shares dropped 1.80 percent, or 28.92 points, to 1,574.02.

Drop lo ....drop lo .....now everybody can fly .....

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares slipped while the euro retained lavish gains on Friday, a day after its biggest one-day surge in nearly seven years as the European Central Bank's stimulus package fell well short of markets' high expectations.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2 percent while Japan's Nikkei (.N225) dropped 1.5 percent.

On Thursday, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 stock index (.SPX) had its biggest one-day percentage decline since Sept. 28, dropping 1.4 percent. The pan-European stock index of FTSEurofirst 300 (.FTEU3) shed 3.3 percent, the biggest fall since Aug. 24.

The drama started after the ECB cut its deposit rate deeper into negative territory and extended its asset buying by six months.

Its rate cut of 0.10 percentage point, to -0.30 percent, was smaller than a 0.15 to 0.20 percentage point cut many traders expected.

The central bank did not increase the amount of government bonds it buys while the six-month extension of the program was perceived as bare minimum, given traders looked for an extension of one year or even making it an open-ended plan.

"It's like doing so much sweet talking before your marriage that you set it up to be a big disappointment," said Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

The package sent traders scrambling to unwind short euro positions which they had built since late October when the ECB chief Mario Draghi said there would be another round of stimulus measures.

Drop lo ....drop lo .....

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices tumbled more than 4 percent on Wednesday as surging U.S. stockpiles and a rallying dollar prompted traders to dump crude contracts amid signs the world's largest oil producers will not cut production when they meet this week.

Warmer-than-usual weather in the Northeastern United States, a major market for heating oil, also weighed on the petroleum complex.

U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures hit contract lows after government data showed a 10th straight week in crude builds.

Brent futures approached new lows since March 2009, with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) widely expected to uphold at its meeting in Vienna on Friday a decision from last year to pump oil vigorously to protect market share from non-OPEC members like the United States and Russia.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices tumbled more than 4 percent on Wednesday as surging U.S. stockpiles and a rallying dollar prompted traders to dump crude contracts amid signs the world's largest oil producers will not cut production when they meet this week.

Warmer-than-usual weather in the Northeastern United States, a major market for heating oil, also weighed on the petroleum complex.

U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures hit contract lows after government data showed a 10th straight week in crude builds.

Brent futures approached new lows since March 2009, with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) widely expected to uphold at its meeting in Vienna on Friday a decision from last year to pump oil vigorously to protect market share from non-OPEC members like the United States and Russia.

Drop lo ...drop lo ....dumped theirs investors money into BIG OCEAN

Little profits cannot cover BIG loss la , at last also dump to Ocean...!

Drop la ....drop la ......

So oil will keep dropping , Biscuits will keep throwing theirs investors money into OCEAN , until bankrupt !

Iran will increasingly become a thorny issue for the Saudis and OPEC policy going forward," they said. "While analysts disagree on the timing and amount, there will certainly be hundreds of thousands of additional barrels of Iranian crude exports hitting the market sometime next year."
Other factors spell trouble for oil producers in and outside OPEC. Among them: projections by the International Energy Agency of slower growth in world oil demand; forecasts of warmer weather this winter; and record oil inventories.

Crude Oil Jan 16
41.71 Down -1.33(3.09%) Nov 27
Oil ends lower as Fed decision ups worries about energy demand

Oil futures settled sharply lower on Friday as the Federal Reserve's decision not to raise interest rates raised concerns over the U.S. economy and the outlook for energy demand. October crude clv5 fell $2.22, or 4.7%, for the session to settle at $44.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices were up a nickel from the week-ago settlement of $44.63.

In a Mideast upset by cheap oil, more crude may enter market
Despite Mideast worries over cheap global oil prices, more regional crude may enter the market

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Across a Mideast fueled by oil production, low global prices have some countries running on empty and scrambling to cover shortfalls, even as more regional crude is on tap to enter the market.
While some Gulf nations rest on ample reserve funds, embattled Iraq is desperate to scrounge up more money for its fight against the extremist Islamic State group as protesters demand repairs to its failing power grid. Contrast that to neighboring Iran, whose nuclear deal with world powers positions it to re-enter the global oil market and make long-needed repairs to its fields to increase its daily production.
The possibility of more supply entering the market has analysts already lowering their forecast price for oil into the next year. And even if the price rises, industry experts say U.S. production quickly could ramp up and keep prices low for years to come, challenging the power of OPEC.

More U.S. oil companies could soon join Samson Resources and Hercules Offshore in filing for bankruptcy protection as banks are expected to tighten credit amid an oil price slump that looks to keep dragging on.
The bulk of the cash flow at oil producers is already devoted to servicing debt, which expanded earlier this year when companies turned to the bond and equity markets to offset lower revenue from selling cheaper oil.
The Energy Information Administration said Friday that 83% of the operating cash at U.S. companies with onshore activity was devoted to debt repayments from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, marking the highest rate since at least 2012.
"Low oil prices have significantly reduced cash flow for U.S. oil producers, and to adjust to lower cash flows, companies have reduced capital expenditures and raised more cash from debt and equity," the EIA report said. "With fixed debt repayments and the large reduction in cash from operations for these companies, the ratio of debt repayments to operating cash flow has increased recently.

This Biscuits every year loss , always dumped money into OCEANs , no hope liao .....it's share prices sure drop below 0.10 by year end !

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Thursday after six days of gains, as concerns that escalating tension in the Middle East could disrupt supply faded, and the focus returned to a persistent market glut.

Brent crude settled down 71 cents at $45.46 a barrel, having earlier dropped more than $1 to a session low of $45.00 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures, the U.S. crude benchmark, were 53 cents lower at $42.51 per barrel at 1957 GMT (1457 ET), after rising to $43.30 earlier in the session.

The downing of a Russian jet by Turkey on Monday helped push up oil prices this week on the risk that rising geopolitical tension could hit Middle East supplies.

By Thursday, however, those concerns were receding and had done little to shake the belief that global production will stay high even as stockpiles rise. A firmer dollar also weighed on oil as it makes it more expensive for holders of other currencies.

OPEC is determined to keep pumping oil to defend market share, alarming some of the group's weaker members who fear prices may slump towards $20.

Sure this counter will drop below 0.10 by year end , so if want to collect it , better wait it's price drop further......

While U.S. crude stocks as a whole rose by less than 1 million barrels, the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for WTI futures (USOICC=ECI) alone had a 1.74 million-barrel build, the EIA said. Big Cushing builds tend to have longer-term bearish impact on prices.

"We suspect rallies, if any, will be rather short-lived," said Tariq Zahir, a trader in crude oil spreads at Tyche Capital Advisors in Long Island, New York.

Each quarter & every year also loss , investors like dumped money to BIG ocean , never ending.....until bankrupt !

Heavy force selling will come at noon session!

On Tuesday the market learned that Turkey shot down a Russian plane . It also found out that consumer confidence is plummeting, Brussels remains on total lockdown with the imminent expectation of an attack and there is a holiday travel advisory with a warning of increased terrorism threats. Even the Fed is ready to hike rates for the first time in years.

On Tuesday the market learned that Turkey shot down a Russian plane . It also found out that consumer confidence is plummeting, Brussels remains on total lockdown with the imminent expectation of an attack and there is a holiday travel advisory with a warning of increased terrorism threats. Even the Fed is ready to hike rates for the first time in years.

Guys, quickly throw your biscuit on hand stock , comfied bad news announce soon .....

Will drop below 0.10 by year end .......because...
Prediction: Here’s What Oil Will Cost at the End of this year
Will prices rise enough to reverse this year’s slump?
The staff of Fortune recently assembled its predictions for 2016. Here’s one of our forecasts.
Stoked by steady demand from American consumers and slowing demand in China, prices should drop below to $40 a barrel by the end of 2016, a roughly 20% decrease from where they stood in mid-November.

Putin's Response to Turkey: Words or Actions?
by Bloomberg Video 3:54 mins

Nov. 24 -- Turkey has downed a Russian fighter jet near the border with Syria after repeated warnings that it was in violation of Turkish airspace. Bloomberg's Andrew Barden examines the potential response and retaliation from Russian President Vladimir Putin. He speaks on "Bloomberg Surveillance."

Will see heavy force selling today .....

Analysts polled by Reuters forecast that data would probably show crude inventories across the United States rose by 1.1 million barrels last week.

"The overarching concern in this market is the growing inventory levels for crude, and that doesn't seem to be easing despite the strong refinery runs we've been having," said Phil Flynn, analyst at the Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Average U.S. gasoline prices resume slide, hit 10-month low
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The average price of gasoline in the United States resumed its slide over the past two weeks, dropping 11 cents to $2.14 a gallon, the lowest since late January, according to a Lundberg survey released on Sunday.
The 5 percent decline in gasoline prices came as oil refiners and gasoline wholesalers and retailers passed along lower oil-buying prices to consumers, said survey publisher Trilby Lundberg in emailed comments.
Current retail gas prices were 70 cents below the year-ago period and at the lowest level since Jan. 23, when the average price was $2.07 per gallon. Benchmark crude oil prices were under pressure from hefty supplies and a strong U.S. dollar, the report said.
"The pump price may well continue dropping during the rest of November and into December," the report said, citing pressure from "abundant" supplies and higher run-rates at U.S. refineries at the end of the seasonal maintenance period.
Lower costs have been passed along the supply chain, and refiners were also "sacrificing some of their gasoline margin," Lundberg added.
In the panel of cities in the lower 48 states, the low average was Indianapolis at $1.79 and the high average was Los Angeles at $2.76 a gallon.

Oil companies brace for big wave of debt defaults
CNBC By Linda Dimyan Nov 21, Low oil prices are leaving many oil and gas companies with difficult debt loads, causing them to default at an extraordinary rate.
On top of that, rating firm Moody's forecasts the default rate will increase.

"The energy sector remains the most troubled, accounting for almost a quarter of the 79 defaults so far this year," said Sharon Ou, Moody's Credit Policy Research senior credit officer.
The strain on the oil patch comes after years of borrowing heavily at the start of the domestic energy renaissance.
At the time, oil was hovering around $100 a barrel. But now, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil slightly above $40 a barrel, these companies are seeing their revenue dry up — and remain saddled with debt.
Marc Lasry, the chief executive of distressed investing specialist Avenue Capital Group, said these energy companies boosted their borrowings to between $250 billion and $300 billion, compared with the $100 billion at the start of this year.
Oil companies brace for big wave of debt …
The energy boom of the past decade was fueled by a wave of credit from U.S. banks that now say they expect more delinquencies and charge-offs from energy companies this year.
Federal Reserve officials earlier in November noted an increase in weakness among credits related to oil and gas exploration, production, and energy services following the decline in energy prices since mid-2014.

$26 crude oil coming? That's what this chart says
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Crude oil futures (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL16F) briefly dipped below $40 a barrel on Wednesday, as crude's November drop continues. And one technical analyst sees oil falling much lower even from these levels.
Todd Gordon of TradingAnalysis.com begins by noting that in the financial crisis, crude oil fell 77 percent from its highs.
"Technicals say that in a good, solid pullback we should see an equal-leg push in the current move lower," Gordon said Wednesday on CNBC's " Power Lunch ." "A 77 percent drop from the reactionary high up at about $114 puts us at $26 in the crude oil market."
A $26 print on crude "is entirely possible in this environment in strengthening dollar, in a potentially falling stock market in the near future," Gordon added.
A further 35 percent decline in crude is not as far-fetched as investors might think, said Stephen Schork, the editor of the Schork Report.
"At $40, we already know we're at a level that's not economical," Schork said, meaning that the price of oil is lower than the supply and demand environment would suggest.
While that would mean higher oil in the long term, it also means that in the short term, oil could "absolutely" fall even lower to a level that would be even further out of whack.

"Never say never," the energy expert said.

Read More Oil: The case for low for longer prices
In fact, Goldman Sachs said in a September report that the heavy supply of crude oil could potentially drive the commodity down to $20 per barrel in a bear-case scenario.
Still, traders aren't exactly playing for that outcome. The options market imply a mere 4 percent chance that oil will find itself below $27 in March

$26 crude oil coming? That's what this chart says
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Crude oil futures (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL16F) briefly dipped below $40 a barrel on Wednesday, as crude's November drop continues. And one technical analyst sees oil falling much lower even from these levels.
Todd Gordon of TradingAnalysis.com begins by noting that in the financial crisis, crude oil fell 77 percent from its highs.
"Technicals say that in a good, solid pullback we should see an equal-leg push in the current move lower," Gordon said Wednesday on CNBC's " Power Lunch ." "A 77 percent drop from the reactionary high up at about $114 puts us at $26 in the crude oil market."
A $26 print on crude "is entirely possible in this environment in strengthening dollar, in a potentially falling stock market in the near future," Gordon added.
A further 35 percent decline in crude is not as far-fetched as investors might think, said Stephen Schork, the editor of the Schork Report.
"At $40, we already know we're at a level that's not economical," Schork said, meaning that the price of oil is lower than the supply and demand environment would suggest.
While that would mean higher oil in the long term, it also means that in the short term, oil could "absolutely" fall even lower to a level that would be even further out of whack.

"Never say never," the energy expert said.

Read More Oil: The case for low for longer prices
In fact, Goldman Sachs said in a September report that the heavy supply of crude oil could potentially drive the commodity down to $20 per barrel in a bear-case scenario.
Still, traders aren't exactly playing for that outcome. The options market imply a mere 4 percent chance that oil will find itself below $27 in March
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A $26 print on crude "is entirely possible in this environment in strengthening dollar, in a potentially falling stock market in the near future," Gordon added.

A further 35 percent decline in crude is not as far-fetched as investors might think, said Stephen Schork, the editor of the Schork Report.

"At $40, we already know we're at a level that's not economical," Schork said, meaning that the price of oil is lower than the supply and demand environment would suggest.

While that would mean higher oil in the long term, it also means that in the short term, oil could "absolutely" fall even lower to a level that would be even further out of whack.

"Never say never," the energy expert said.

A $26 print on crude "is entirely possible in this environment in strengthening dollar, in a potentially falling stock market in the near future," Gordon added.

A further 35 percent decline in crude is not as far-fetched as investors might think, said Stephen Schork, the editor of the Schork Report.

"At $40, we already know we're at a level that's not economical," Schork said, meaning that the price of oil is lower than the supply and demand environment would suggest.

While that would mean higher oil in the long term, it also means that in the short term, oil could "absolutely" fall even lower to a level that would be even further out of whack.

"Never say never," the energy expert said.

But last month, OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri said that global oil investments will fall by 22.4% to $521 billion this year.

Read More At Investor's Business Daily

A top Federal Reserve official hinted Thursday that "some major central banks" could move away from near-zero interest rate policy "in the relatively near future."

"We have done everything we can to avoid surprising the markets and governments when we move," said Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer in prepared remarks for a conference sponsored by the San Francisco Fed.

Traders continue to seek guidance on whether the Fed will move from near-zero rates at its policy meeting next month. The U.S. central bank has held the federal funds rate there since the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Fischer noted that the question lingers of whether Asia and emerging markets are prepared for policy tightening by global central banks. Emerging market central bankers have told the Fed to "just do it," he added.

Crude oil futures (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL16F) briefly dipped below $40 a barrel on Wednesday, as crude's November drop continues. And one technical analyst sees oil falling much lower even from these levels.

Todd Gordon of TradingAnalysis.com begins by noting that in the financial crisis, crude oil fell 77 percent from its highs.

"Technicals say that in a good, solid pullback we should see an equal-leg push in the current move lower," Gordon said Wednesday on CNBC's " Power Lunch ." "A 77 percent drop from the reactionary high up at about $114 puts us at $26 in the crude oil market."

Morning session just a technical rebound , afternoon will see huge volume selling , prices will drop further below 0.20 , be careful , guys !

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell to near three-month lows and U.S. crude futures slipped to below $40 a barrel before settling higher on Wednesday as short-covering lifted a market initially suppressed by worries about a global supply glut.
U.S. crude inventories grew by 252,000 barrels last week, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) that came in below a 2 million-barrel build forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.[EIA/S]
The smaller-than-expected stockpiles growth convinced some traders and investors to cover short positions in late trading, helping oil prices recover.
Crude futures tumbled earlier after the EIA data showed the eighth straight week in builds leaving inventories at 487.3 million barrels, within a hair of the April record of 490.9 million.

Sure this counter will drop below 0.10 by end of this year , maybe we can buy at 0.05 later !

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude oil futures fell about 2 percent on Tuesday, resuming their slide after a one-day pause, as oversupply concerns returned to suppress a market briefly lifted by geopolitical worries linked to the Paris attacks.

A Reuters poll of analysts forecast that U.S. crude stockpiles rose for an eight straight week last week, building by 1.6 million barrels to reach near-record highs above 490 million barrels seen in April.

Industry group American Petroleum Institute will issue its own preliminary report on the stockpile situation at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT), two hours after market settlement.

Official inventory data from the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration is due on Wednesday.

Brent crude futures were down 80 cents at $43.76 a barrel by 12:35 p.m. EST (1735 GMT). In August, Brent hit a low of $42.23, which marked a 6-1/2-year bottom.

U.S. crude futures were down $1 at $40.74 a barrel, after hitting a session low of $40.60. In August, U.S. crude had sunk to a March 2009 low of $37.75.

Brent's premium over U.S. crude was below $2 a barrel, versus nearly $4 at the start of November. A narrower spread between the two tends to encourage a greater flow of oil from abroad into the U.S. market, as crude grades pegged to the pricier Brent become more affordable.