Crude Oil Rising on Iraq Tensions,

Bullish Sentiment Extremes Plus

Issues in China on Copper

with Ashley Jessen June 15, 2014

Brent Crude prices are really one that we will be keeping a close eye on

this week. With tensions on Iraq continuing to escalate, and it being so

uncertain, we really don't know exactly what is going to evolve and happen

over there.

But with Iraq being the second largest producer in the region, we know for

certain that is going to play a big impact on the price of crude oil prices.

Now we did speak about them last week, breaking above resistance at

111, they shot up to over 114 and has steadied a little bit since then.

Now the 3 ASX players that we spoke about, specifically Woodside

Petroleum (WPL:ASX), AWE (AWE:ASX) and Oil Search (OSH:ASX) --- all

of them broke higher. In this week's Insights, Peter Esho will be covering

one of them extensively, and having a close look at what their competitive

advantage is over some of the other local ASX stocks. So make sure you

grab a copy of that one.

Now on the S&P500, some interesting plays coming out there. Option

traders have been the most bullish since 2011 and stock sentiment is at

the highest level since 1987. Now we’re not calling for a top or potential

pullback in that, but it's interesting to note that there hasn’t been a 10%

pullback in over 2 years on the S&P500. We haven’t seen a 20% pullback

in over 5 years. So we'll keep you updated on the blog, but certainly keep

a very close eye on that.

Now moving across to commodities, we've got Gold steady at 1278, and

it's really had a pretty strong rally. It’s sitting right on resistance. It's

possible that it might hit that resistance and pullback a little bit, but it has

been strengthening of late. Iron Ore is sitting below $91 a tonne and that is

playing a little bit of havoc with the Fortescue (FMG:ASX), BHP

(BHP:ASX) and Arrium (ARI:ASX). Those pure Iron Ore players especially

Arrium (ARI:ASX) and Fortescue (FMG:ASX) metals.

Now the one that we’re really keeping a close eye on is copper prices.

Copper has fallen from $3.20 a pound. It's sitting just above $3, and that's

with China and what is happening over there with their lending and stock

piling issues. We're going to keep a close eye on that because that is such

a big impact on the global economy. In fact, looking at the global economy,

the World Bank recently just reduced the global economic outlook for the

global economy. And certainly as we see crude oil prices rising, that's

going to play a little bit of havoc and maybe have the indices and the

stocks globally pulling back.

Now on the economic front, we've got RBA reserved bank minutes on

Tuesday, as well as the FOMC meeting later in the week. That's a big one

because the FED is going to be talking about their tapering policy and also

they'll be having a look at when the likely time is to raise interest rates.

Now in this week's Insights, Peter Esho will be talking about the crude oil

prices; the developments in Iraq, how that's going to affect the global

market players; and is going to have a look at the S&P500 a little closer.

Make sure you grab a copy and we hope you have a great week. Thank

you.