Oil markets have always been cyclical, and now even more so with advanced electronic trading, more speculation (which often results in wider oil price swings) and more producers, including the resurgence of U.S. oil production, now reaching over 11 million barrels per day. Added to the cocktail of uncertainty are also a myriad of geopolitical and economic factors, including ongoing U.S.-China trade tensions, angst of U.S. Federal Reserve policy, and wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, which make it increasingly difficult to forecast the direction for future oil prices. This dynamic has proven true over the past two-and-a-half months as market pundits have watched (often in amazement) how global oil prices reached multi-year highs in October, only to quickly plunge by 40 percent to date. Prices for global oil benchmark, London-traded Brent crude futures were trading in the mid-$80’s range in early October, while U.S. oil benchmark, NYMEX-traded West […]