Today, the price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate reached a low of -$40.32. That’s right: the price was negative.
West Texas intermediate (WTI), also known as Texas light sweet, is a grade of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing.
Everyone has the same question: How is this possible?
The reality is that there is simply too much oil being produced right now and not enough demand. Production is being curtailed globally, but that takes time. It’s not like a light switch that can simply be turned on and off.
The chart below shows supply and demand for the world oil market going back to 2000. As you can see, most of the time there tends to be minor variance between supply and demand.
In contrast, today the gap between supply and demand is extremely wide. This means there is a massive surplus of oil being produced right now.
That oil needs to be stored somewhere, and as storage capacity is maxed out fewer people are willing to take delivery.
With May 2020 WTI futures contracts expiring on April 21, oil producers are desperate to offload about 100 million barrels. With limited storage and plummeting demand, producers are now forced to pay others to take the oil off their hands. Nobody wants to take delivery and the oil has to go somewhere.
You read that right. Oil producers right now must pay others to take delivery of their oil. Of course, anyone taking delivery must have somewhere to put it and means to transport it. That all costs money.
As the Covid-19 coronavirus economic catastrophe rages on, it is likely that energy markets continue to implode – at least until supply and demand can be more closely aligned.
Vanguard Energy ETF (VGE), Exxon (XOM), ConocoPhillips (COP), Chevron (CVX) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) are getting hurt badly today. However, the United States Oil Fund (USO) is down even more, more closely reflecting the maturing May contract.
Beware if you’re considering buying an ETF that buys oil futures like the United States Oil Fund (USO). These types of ETFs shouldn’t be used to get long-term exposure to oil.
Oil ETFs tend to invest by purchasing futures contracts (i.e. they don’t actually buy barrels of oil). When a futures market is in “contango” (see chart below) futures contracts expiring near-term have a lower price than those expiring farther out into the future. The oil futures market is currently in record contango. Indeed, there is currently (mid-day April 20th) roughly a $50-60 spread between the May and June contract.
Even if prices along the futures curve for Oil remains constant, when the market is in contango an oil ETF that buys futures contracts will experience a negative roll yield as future contracts approach expiry and converge with lower spot prices. This is a great way to lose money over the long term. Oil ETFs that invest in futures contracts are best used for very short term trades.
If you are brave enough to invest in energy right now as a long term play, I would instead choose an ETF that invests in actual producers.
If you found this article helpful, please forward to a friend or colleague you think might benefit.
Get Your Free Copy of CoronaCrisis: A 47 Page Guide to Surviving the Coronavirus Economic Collapse
A recent Bloomberg article provided a view of the deteriorating condition of the Canadian housing market. It’s dire and in my opinion will get worse because the economy is being pushed to the edge by the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis.
Housing crises are slow-motion train wrecks, so don’t expect the pain to be immediately obvious, like in the stock market. While this might seem to make it more manageable, it actually extends the economic pain. If you are unfamiliar with what a housing-led economic implosion looks like, you should brush up on what happened to the US after 2006 and Canada after 1989.
The US housing collapse took years to eventually bottom, resulting in massive economic dislocation, human suffering and a near-collapse of the global financial system. Coming out the other side of the collapse was a long, slow uphill battle for most.
Canada saw the same after its real estate bust in the early 1990s. Years of stagnation and relatively high unemployment.
Of course, in both the US and Canada the real estate bust eventually created massive opportunities for many.
The following key stats from the Bloomberg article illustrate the immediate vulnerability of the Canadian housing market and the overall Canadian economy:
1) Nearly one in three workers have applied for income support.
2) Canadian households are among the world’s most indebted.
3) Real estate has become Canada’s largest sector. Including residential construction, it accounted for 15% of economic output last year; energy accounted for 9%.
4) The City of Vancouver fears it’s heading for insolvency after it surveyed residents and found that 45% of households say they can’t pay their full mortgage next month and a quarter expect to pay less than half of their property tax bills this year.
5) Canadian households owe C$1.76 for every dollar in disposable income. In Vancouver, that spikes to about C$2.40
6) Canadians owe C$2.3 trillion in mortgages, credit card, and other consumer debt, about equal to the country’s GDP, which is an even higher ratio than the U.S. had before its housing bust.
7) If only 2% of the housing stock were to be listed for sale, it would trigger the kind of supply shock behind a 1990 crash, according to Veritas. That’s most likely to come from investors, half of whom weren’t generating enough cash to cover the cost of owning their rental properties, Veritas found in a survey last September.
9) 30% of apartment rent due April 1 went uncollected, according to estimates by CIBC Economics.
10) Nearly a third of Canada’s Airbnb hosts — who jointly had 170,000 active listings in late 2019 — need the income to avoid foreclosure or eviction, Airbnb said in a letter to the Canadian government last month.
11) Nearly 6 million Canadians have applied for income support. Lenders had deferred nearly 600,000 mortgages, about 12% of the mortgages they hold, as of April 9.
Subscribe to DumbWealth and Get the 47 Page Guide: CoronaCrisis
The Covid-19 economic crisis is gripping the world. After 20 years in the asset management business, it looks like we are fighting through unprecedented territory.
This is war. I created a 17 step, 47 page guide to help DumbWealth subscribers get through this.
I originally planned on printing the guide and selling copies for $20+. Instead I’m giving this away free because I think we all need to help each other during these difficult times.
I am posting this information to show you the devastation facing millions of small business owners right now.
The headlines make it seem like the government is providing tons of support. However, for most small business owners the support is failing them. These people are the lifeblood of the economy, yet are on their own fighting for their lives.
Authorities predict about 50% of small businesses will disappear before the Covid-19 coronavirus economic crisis is over. This is not something the economy can quickly recover from. It will take significant time, effort and risk appetite for entrepreneurs to once again start new businesses and hire staff.
I’m afraid the neighborhood landscape will look very different once this quarantine is over. Local drycleaners, restaurants, yoga studios, pet stores. Half gone.
Here are their stories:
u/rexruther99
The future is truly uncertain for small business owners.
I own a bar in Downtown Atlanta. It’s not really a residential area and 80% of our business comes from traffic going to nearby stadiums, arenas, hotels, and concert venues.
We are closed right now, and I don’t see how we could survive as a business without international travel opening back up, restrictions being completely lifted, AND people are eager to get close to each other once again without fear. I would say we have *at least* a year before that would happen.
Get Your Free Copy
Not to mention, this happened right at the end of the slow season. So we had completely depleted our resources and had acquired a little (~15,000) additional debt to cover us until we got to the busy season again that starts right around the middle of March.
Now bills are stacking up, I have no money, and the PPP loan really won’t help my business until we know when we can open again (so we can use the forgiven portions of the loan to help float payroll cost as we get back on our feet).
This is just a bad, bad situation. I don’t know what to do either. I don’t know if it’s smarter to begin the process of putting the business out of its misery now or “wait and see” while more bills pile up and more debtors coming after me.
I definitely feel abandoned. Like I fell off the ship that is the USA along with many others. Now we’re all stranded in the water flailing, screaming for help while the ship slowly but steadily sails away, leaving us.
u/Silvex020
The biggest problem for many businesses is the Lease. It no longer makes sense.
Revenues fall? Well, you can always cut some staff to lessen the payroll burden, and figure out other ways to survive until customers return.
But what are you going to do about your crazy lease? You can’t downsize and ask the Landlord, “I’m only getting half the customers vs what I used to… can I change the Lease so that I’m renting only half the store now and pay you half the rent?” The LL will of course say no, especially if you Personally Guaranteed (which is most of the times for small businesses because if they don’t the LL won’t lease the space to you).
Also, if the LLs have a mortgage on their property, even less likely they will adjust your lease since LLs have to pay their bills too. Which is why the commercial real estate market will tank.
If I were you, i’d seriously consider bankruptcy (or closing shop if you have a Good Guy Clause in your lease). Survive the downturn. Meantime, scrounge up whatever you can and launch a new business when the time is right (once the LLs take a beating, new leases/rents will drop significantly and people will be able to find great opportunities).
u/Farm_Boss826
I qualify for all the loans approved by the government and have applied for the EIDL, PPP past Saturday and Monday respectively, and for the $10K (three day express funding) since March 30th. It has been now nine business days since I applied for $10k express, however, I haven’t heard from anyone. I believe at this point they are not worried about businesses with 10 employees or less. Each day trying to stay afloat makes the debt bigger. SBA classification for small business stand for 100-500 employees which makes me think there is no way they will come to the rescue of a tiny micro business of 10 or less employees. I am losing hope every hour, I am within days of running out of oxygen.
The truth is anywhere from 30 to 50% of the small businesses will not survive this pandemic.
u/jims2321
The truth is anywhere from 30 to 50% of the small businesses will not survive this pandemic. A lot of the financial assistance is focused on getting thru the lockdown and the economy shutting down. But little has been focused on what happens afterwards. Do not believe what this administration is selling. The economy is not coming back instantly, nor in a few months or even this year. I have seen articles by economist saying that the US economic will snap back in the 2nd half of the year.
It is the consensus from the medical community that continued social distance is going to be with us for the foreseeable future until a reliable vaccine is available. Which directly contradicts what the government wants.
u/evergreenyankee
At this point it is like screaming into the void – somewhat cathartic but ultimately useless.
People in my state are basically 100% against anything opening up before June. There is no help, and no help is coming. No one in the general public gives a fuck about what small business owners are facing right now, or more importantly, the looming economic doom that is on the horizon because of that. Even with agriculture being “essential” we can’t get the required inputs for production because everything is shut down and we can’t get the employees to come in because everyone is paralyzed with fear. No one wants to compromise on measures to ease up on things a bit before May 20th in my state, which in this growing region the window will be missed and the damage will largely be done (although the effects of which won’t be felt until August or September). A friend of mine killed himself the other day because he couldn’t take the burden and the abandonment by everyone, not just the government but mostly the abandonment of support of the public to allow some businesses to reopen with precautions.
At this point I have already given up. I’m doing what I can to provide for myself and my family, and when the bankruptcy comes I’m going to use this as a chance to start over in a state or country that is more hospitable to liberty and more supportive of small business owners.
u/MasterChief813
I’m feeling miserable myself. I’m running a hotel in middle ga and we’re hemorrhaging money. Last year was slower than usual but we got by. This year started slower than normal and turned into the catastrophe we’re in now.
I’ve applied for the EIDL advance (was told it will take a week to get back to us if we’re lucky) and the PPP (I’ve been waiting for BB&T to send us an application for 5 days now). The rules for PPP are such a clusterfuck that I have no doubt that it will take a lot of back and forth before we get approved (i.e. they are using payroll # of employees from January and in my industry we have high turnover so I have to find 3 more employees to hire if I get approved since I’m down 3 housekeepers from Jan and I want to the loan to be forgiven given that we’re barely making any money on hotel rooms right now).
Don’t get me started on getting the mortgage on a hotel paid every month. Thankfully there is enough money in reserves to get by but if this continues then we are totally screwed.
u/BrioRainbows
My business is in live events… we have no clarity on when our business will come back. We might have to wait possibly a year or more? Many in the 2.5 trillion dollar live global events business will go under. MSM is promoting this rosy picture of trillions of dollars in assistance, we’ll all get back to work in a month or two… stock market zooming back up. Not true for many of us… I don’t think anyone knows how bad it’s really going to get and the current optimism and stock market is not reflecting what’s really happening on main street.
u/MeatPopsicle_AMA
I own a bakery/cafe in a small town that is almost 100% reliant on tourist money. The main tourist draw is closed until September, at least. The PPP money will be minimal for us- barely covers 2 months rent if that. EIDL seems to be a bust. My partner is optimistic that once things get back to “normal” our local regulars will show up, but I doubt many folks will have disposable income to keep us going until the festival opens. It’s not looking good for us. If it was just me I’d walk away and deal with the consequences of breaking my lease, but it’s not just me.
u/madonnaofroses
Woke up with some anxiety this morning. Still no emails from the SBA regarding my EIDL loan. Since it was just my partner and I in our LLC with no employees, we couldn’t apply for the PPL either.
Made myself some coffee and sat outside for a and listened to the birds for a few.
I have a small but beloved massage therapy business here in downtown Jersey City. My business partner voluntarily withdrew from the LLC last week, has taken the couch (good thing I bought everything else) and will not be renewing the lease with me in May.
Technically, I won’t be able to renew the lease either if the EIDL loan doesn’t come through and I’m saddened by all the effort and money I put into our business the past year only for me to have close doors. I wasn’t done yet. We were building the foundation of things still.
I’m still kinda positive about things in my heart but I’ve mostly given up on that EIDL loan. It was kinda nice to come on here and see others share my disheartened feelings as well. Got to be realistic at the end of the day and be able to adapt or cut losses.
Tragic to have read someone took their life last week in the chaos.
Still grateful my family and I have our health and if you’re reading this, I hope you still have that too and will continue to have it until this is over.
God bless.
u/PleasureDoingBiz
I’m in Mexico, which in official terms, has reacted way worse than how the USA has, according to many criticisms.
The President (AMLO, as we call him) textually said “don’t stay inside… I’ll let you know when you really have to stay inside.” I could write several paragraphs describing his reasons and the background, but all you need to know for context is that he divides opinion just like Trump does. And he’s trying to wash his hands from the economic recession. Just days before they acknowledged the pandemic, the US dollar jumped from around 18 Mexican pesos to 24.
The government stance on business is this: There are no governmental aids. You’re expected to pay all taxes as normal, all bills such as electric or water. Businesses are told to close (even though the citizenship is told not to stop going out), but it’s not enforced. However, a worker that contracts coronavirus in whatever circumstances and isn’t being paid in full to stay home, can sue their employers for getting the virus. So they pretend every single business is a massive corporation that can pay full wages indefinitely. To add to this take into account that 90% of Mexicans live day-by-day and can’t afford to go a single day without pay, or else they and their family don’t eat that day.
I have a couple small businesses where I sell flooring and window covers, plus a few other related products like awnings. Traditionally we sell in person, but I had worked a long time on trying to build an eCommerce sales channel, to some success (boomer mentality runs rampant in Mexico, where even Zoomers doubt the legitimacy of eCommerce). However, we install our products and most people aren’t interested in DIY and would rather have the technician perform the installation.
It’s a family business, my dad owns and runs the factory that supplies about 75% of the products I sell. The factory is still operating at a limited capacity, as it has a relatively small team with large space. But mainly, the workers asked my dad to continue working because they can’t survive without steady salary. About 90% of what we call small sales vanished overnight when Mexico announced the first case, which was about three weeks before the government even talked about the pandemic. These small sales provide most of the cash flow and account for about 60% of revenue on an average month.
My own sales dried up by about 85%. Only wealthy clients are buying, since they can survive their entire lifetime without working again (or thereabouts) and are now getting bored of looking at the same decor in their homes.
I’m trying to complement my earnings with Appen (have waited two weeks for project validation, still waiting) and I recently opened another business thanks to my cousin. We are selling construction materials remotely (again, normally done in person) as construction hasn’t halted yet.
AMLO is trying to pit business-owners (whom he has referred to as the cancer that’s killing Mexico even long before he was elected; he makes no distinction between tiny stores and cafés than multimillionaire CEOs) against the workforce and vice versa.
Get your free copy of DumbWealth’s 47 page guide to surviving the Covid-19 economic crisis:
The Covid-19 economic crisis is gripping the world. After 20 years in the asset management business, it looks like we are fighting through unprecedented territory.
This is war. I created a 17 step, 47 page guide to help DumbWealth subscribers get through this.
I originally planned on printing the guide and selling copies for $20+. Instead I’m giving this away free because I think we all need to help each other during these difficult times.
