January 17-2014
IMPACT OF NUCLEAR AGREEMENT — If you checked the business pages this week, you may have seen the stories saying the price of oil fell Monday after the nuclear deal with Iran was finalized, as the market figured Iranian oil would soon start flooding back. But everyone following the market knows full well there will be no Iranian oil flooding back any time soon. Yes, the price did fall Monday, but only marginally. Brent, the European standard, feel 50 cents, while West Texas Intermediate, the US standard, fell 92 cents. An OPEC barrel plummeted all of 17 cents. The last tick on the chart above is the OPEC “plunge” of Monday. But it was really nothing compared to the $5 weekly fall earlier this month. Ignore those daily market stories, which always grab some news story to try to explain every little juke in the price.