Bulls Brake for Jobs Data, Profit Warnings

Looking abroad, all Russian gas deliveries to Europe through Ukraine have stopped, both countries have confirmed. Gazprom, Russia's gas monopoly, had already sharply limited supplies through Ukraine, which channels 80% of Russian gas to Europe. The tensions ignited when Russia's Gazprom said it was overdue a $600 million payment from Naftogaz, and the two countries failed to agree on a gas price for 2009.

By early Wednesday, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Croatia, Serbia and Turkey had all reported a halt in gas shipments, while France, Germany, Austria, Poland and Hungary had reported substantial drops in supplies from Russia, according to the Associated Press.

"The Russia-Ukraine natural gas dispute has left tens of thousands of people in Europe without heat as governments scrambled to find alternative energy sources," according to the report.

Rising oil prices in the past week have been in part attributed to the conflict, as well as Israel's offensive in Gaza. But oil fell $5.95 to settle at $42.63 a barrel Wednesday, after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said that crude oil stockpiles rose by 6.7 million barrels for the week ended Jan. 2, vs. a forecast for a 900,000-barrel increase.

After chasing headlines and pushing oil to more than $50 a barrel, traders realized that the supply/demand situation is not turning around, says Darin Newsom, DTN senior analyst. In truth, it's unlikely that restricted supply related to the conflict would already affect stockpiles, but this market reacts in a knee-jerk fashion to bearish numbers, he says.