Thursday, June 19, 2008

China Reduces Gasoline Subsidies. And: A New Double-Short Oil Exchange Traded Note

Now we'll see if the pension funds that claimed they were making long-term asset allocations to commodities as an "asset class" have the conviction to maintain their long "exposure" when things might not be as close to a lock as they thought they were.
From MarketBeat:

Oil Turns on China Decision

For ages the assumption among the oil bulls has been that the rapid industrial growth in China would more-than-fill the void of demand declines in the U.S. and Europe, and that’s in part what’s kept oil prices surging while gasoline consumption declines here.

But that leg of the argument has been hobbled, and it’s having an impact on crude, which is down by more than $4 in trading. China said it would raise domestic gasoline and diesel prices by 17% to 18% by reducing its usage of subsidies, following moves by other Asian nations, including India, Malaysia, and Indonesia....MORE

From MarketWatch:

Leveraged, short ETNs launched for oil and base metals

Deutsche Bank (DB) and Invesco (IVZ) unit PowerShares on Tuesday launched eight exchange-traded notes, some of which give short and leveraged exposure to the price of oil and industrial metals. They listed on the NYSE Arca. They are:

• PowerShares DB Base Metals Double Short ETN (BOM)
• PowerShares DB Base Metals Short ETN (BOS)
• PowerShares DB Base Metals Double Long ETN (BDD)
• PowerShares DB Base Metals Long ETN (BDG)
• PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Long ETN (DXO)
• PowerShares DB Crude Oil Long ETN (OLO)
PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Short ETN (DTO)
• PowerShares DB Crude Oil Short ETN (SZO)>>>MORE