Oil Makes Road to Recovery Slippery

Oil's recent roller-coaster ride has not only proven the truth of the "endless bid," it's posed an impossible roadblock to whatever recovery anyone might have hoped for.

The endless bid is what I have been calling the power of investment interest in oil to affect prices in a very big way. We saw oil move from the low $30-a-barrel area coinciding with the S&P 500 lows in March to top out recently near $75. No one has been able to find a fundamental reason for this move, because it is clearly and almost singularly investment driven.

But what the investor gives, he also quickly can take away: Retreats from risk in the stock market, dollar and the recent flight into Treasuries in the last several sessions has seen oil plummet almost $10 in fewer than six trading days.

Oil's Out of Control

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