Posted on 03/26/2018 8:55:51 AM PDT by Enlightened1
The highly anticipated yuan-backed crude oil futures have been launched in Shanghai. China is the world’s biggest oil consumer, with eyes on rival benchmarks Brent and WTI as well as the US currency.
Trading of the new oil futures contracts for September settlement started on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange at 440.20 yuan ($69.70) per barrel, reports Chinese daily the South China Morning Post. Some 18,540 lots have reportedly been sold and purchased so far.
long-awaited step evoked a surge in global prices for oil with Brent Crude soaring to $71 a barrel for the first time since 2015. US crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached the highest level in three years at $66.55 per barrel, before retreating to $65.53.
Experts see China’s yuan-dominated contracts as historic as the new futures symbolize the first time that foreign investors can access a Chinese commodity market. The launch ends years of setbacks and delays since the country’s first attempt at listing the securities in 1993.
At the same time, the petro-yuan launch is seen as a blow to the US dollar that has been weakening in recent months. The US dollar is the predominant settlement currency for oil futures contracts. On Monday, the greenback slipped to a 16-month low against the Japanese yen, but remained steady against a basket of six major currencies.
Chinese authorities have reportedly accelerated the launch amid growing crude imports. Last year, the country outpaced the US as the world’s number one importer of oil. Thus, the contracts may not only help to win some control over pricing from the major international benchmarks, but also promote the use of Chinese currency in global trade.
(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...
This isn't an opinion piece, its a news article.
Are you suggesting the Chinese didn't launch their Petro-yuan today?
I think you have to look at this as an attempt by China to try and bid down the cost of its most costly commodity import: oil. Chinese state players could try to force down prices by selling paper barrels, hoping to drag down the physical price paid (now mainly to the Russians). You need to have very deep pockets to do that and a big appetite for risk. It would open up an arbitrage to the NYMEX, where the pressure now seems to be to the upside. If they fail, the China oil shorts could get mauled.
No. It is Russia Today with all that goes along with it.
How does one title a news article “Death of the US Dollar” without it being an opinion piece?
I am sure over in Russia it is a news article.
Lol...you forgot the question mark in the headline.
A headline asking whether the launch of the gold backed Petro-Yuan means the death of the USD as the worlds reserve currency is both valid and logical...a half dozen other news outlets did the same thing.
Given the state of “journalism” both here and abroad, I would not be surprised if the number of new outlets touting it as news instead of opinion was 60 instead of six.
I guess given how things are these days I should say that I meant “ news outlets” not “new outlets”.
I am felling a bit tired and cynical today, but that made me laugh...:)
Moderator.
1. I do not believe in the hoax presented by Billary, Inc., the DNC and the media that claims Trump colluded with Russia. 2. However, I do not consider Putin and his Russian government to be benign players with zero interest in disrupting the social and political scene in the U.S. 3. And I see every media source allowed to operate under the Russian state as performing some arm of that state one way or another.
4. So do we really want to give public vent in the U.S. to arms of the Russian state like RT? I think we should not. I’d hope you’d agree.
Near term oil futures dropped $.36 on the New York Merc today. Anyone who took a long position based on the notion of a petro-yuan deserves the loss.
Years ago we used to get a topic like this every couple of months, because the US dollar was on the brink of collapse.
IOW, NTSA.
Thanks Enlightened1.
OPEC Has Already Turned to the Euro
GoldMoney Alert
February 18, 2004
...The source for the euro exchange rate is the Federal Reserve, and I have calculated the euro's average exchange rate to the dollar for each year based on daily data.We can see from column (4) in the above table that in 2001, each barrel of imported crude oil cost $21.40 on average for that year. But by 2003 the average price of a barrel of crude oil had risen 26.0% to $26.97 per barrel. However, the important point is shown in column (6). Note that the price of crude oil in terms of euros is essentially unchanged throughout this 3-year period.
2001
As the dollar has fallen, the dollar price of crude oil has risen. But the euro price of crude oil remains essentially unchanged throughout this 3-year period. It does not seem logical that this result is pure coincidence. It is more likely the result of purposeful design, namely, that OPEC is mindful of the dollar's decline and increases the dollar price of its crude oil by an amount that offsets the loss in purchasing power OPEC's members would otherwise incur. In short, OPEC is protecting its purchasing power as the dollar declines.
Actually there has been very little coverage of the petro-yuan launch in the western corporate media. Its almost like they don't want you to know about it...go figure.
Thanks mac_truck...sorry if I seemed snippy yesterday. I was pretty grouchy. Had a lot of doom-and-gloom in one day.
Maybe western media figure asian coverage of it is simply some form of Asiatic nationalistic-sentiment circular self abuse.
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