The Traderszone Network

West Texas Intermediate Crude ($WTIC) fell back under $28 to retest the lows of January. So far, the trend in price still has a pattern of lower highs and lower lows. While it would be preferable to see this low tested and hold, all of the data regarding supply inventories of crude oil, gasoline, and distillate (Diesel fuel) are trending higher, which is bearish for crude oil. Unfortunately, all the demand data forecasts are not increasing at the same rate as the inventories. At this point, there is no evidence of a reversal in the supply / demand imbalance. 

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Oil prices found some support recently on speculation about possible production cuts, but market sentiment weakened after hopes of lower supply from major producers faded.
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Former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive Achilles Macris was fined 792,900 pounds ($1.1 million) for failing to tell authorities about concerns he had with the bank’s activities in the “London Whale” case.

A strong finish into the close but all relative
USDJPY not so impressed indicating that there’s a few sellers around still but nudging a little higher now to 114.64 from 114.55

Nomura Holdings Inc plans a shift in focus in the United States toward client-oriented services from market-based trading, the chief executive said, in its latest attempt to establish a profitable business in a major overseas economy. Japan’s biggest investment bank will move resources into areas such as mergers-and-acquisition (M&A) advisory, Koji Nagai said in an interview. The approach would differ from his predecessors, whose emphasis on securities in the U.S. and Europe ended in heavy losses.

The families of Americans murdered by Mexican drug gangs have sued HSBC, claiming the bank enabled the cartels by helping launder their cash.

Monkeys threw a wrench into Asian markets in the Lunar New Year’s first trading week, with sell-offs in Japan, Singapore and Down Under.