Welcome to the Fuel Matters Blog

Nearly one month ago, U.S. oil futures hit a historic moment, dropping below zero for the first time. At that time traders were scrambling to pay buyers to take off crude futures, while month end rolls were looming. This morning, U.S. oil futures climbed roughly 9% to $32 a barrel, a price that would allow some of the lowest cost oil wells in the United States to break even. Oil prices are roughly half of what they were to start the year, but the slight uptick in driving across America, has helped rally the oil prices. Currently, 87E10 gasoline pump prices are at an average of $1.88 a gallon in the U.S., about $0.98 less than last year.

As many of us are focused on our plans for the Thanksgiving holiday, we need to be aware of market-moving headlines in December that could create a volatile price market – similar to last year. Let’s review some of the events which could present an opportunity to take advantage of market movement and protect your fuel budgets.

If the quote "the trend is your friend" isn't the true narrative of the energy complex over the past 20 trading days, I'm not sure what other phrase may be used to depict exactly what we have witnessed.  WTI crude for August delivery has had a 20.15% rally from its lows on June 12th to its highs on July 11th with only seven opportunities to buy lower on the day and watch it rally over the following days.  

This Friday, March 29^th, will mark the launch date of the world’s first financially settled Trucking Freight Futures market. The market will be a partnership between Nodal Exchange, FreightWaves and DAT. The goal of this newly created market is to provide a way for carriers, shippers and 3PL providers to hedge their financial exposure to truckload spot rate volatility.  According to Craig Fuller, CEO of FreightWaves “Nearly every industry with a commoditized product benefits from a futures market – except for trucking.” However, the questions posed are “why now?” and “if Trucking Freight Futures are such a good idea, then why hasn’t anyone done it before?” The answer is two-fold.