- Saudi Arabia reportedly is pushing for a sharp short-term oil production cut in response to the China coronavirus, although OPEC and its allies are split for now over how they should manage supply.
- Under one scenario, Saudi Arabia would lead a collective 500K bbl/day reduction until the crisis is over; another option would involve a 1M bbl/day cut to jolt oil markets, according to WSJ.
- OPEC and the allies are considering an emergency ministerial meeting on Feb. 14-15, Reuters reports, but for now, the group will not call an emergency meeting of its full delegation and instead will hold a technical meeting to access the virus' impact and make recommendations.
- The report initially provided some support for crude prices (USO -3%) but have since resumed losses to their lowest levels in more than a year; WTI -2.3% to $50.37/bbl, Brent -3.2% to $54.79/bbl.
- The energy sector (XLE -1.6%) is by far the weakest among the 11 S&P 500 groups today.
- Notable losers include VLO -4.1%, HFC -3.5%, XEC -3.5%, MPC -3.2%, XOM -2.4%, PSX -2.3%.
- ETFs: USO, XLE, OIL, UWT, XOP, UCO, VDE, OIH, DWT, BGR, BNO, ERX, GUSH, SCO, DRIP, DBO, FENY, ERY, DIG, FIF, NDP, OILU, DTO, IYE, USL, DUG, IEO, OILD, USOI, WTIU, CRAK