Welcome to the Fuel Matters Blog

The oil complex is trading much higher this morning due to a flurry of bullish headlines: increased chances of a federal stimulus package, weaker dollar, oil strikes in Norway, and the development of Tropical Storm Delta.

Ever since WTI crude oil prices broke out above the $32/barrel level in May, we have been on a steady grind higher. The question is, will this continue?

It’s been one week since the $600 unemployment stimulus ran out for many jobless Americans. In my blog, “Time is Running Out,” I discussed how Congress was working to put together a bill that extend these benefits and yet we still do not have a bill as partisanship persists.

With the current stimulus relief package that was put in place at the start of the pandemic set to expire today, Congress has yet to pass another relief package. After last efforts to extend the $600 stimulus failed Thursday and the Senate gone for the weekend, millions of Americans are left with much uncertainty moving forward.

Earlier this week the United States Senate passed a nearly $500 billion coronavirus ‘Phase 3.5’ relief bill that would replenish the small business rescue program known as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Along with this, $75 billion will go to hospitals to implement a nationwide COVID-19 virus testing program as well as research funding to move forward with reopening the economy. Over the past 4 weeks, more than 22 million people filed for unemployment as most of the country remains closed to slow the spread of COVID-19.