The Crude Oil Market and The Invisible Hand
by Rob Kirby. December 13, 2009
Today I telephoned the good folks at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C. I phoned to find out a little bit more about how one of the key inputs – CRUDE OIL - in PPI [Producer Price Index] is determined each and every month.
Here's the nuts of what I was told:
"Crude oil price data inputs for the PPI are measured from sources of the subject month on the Tuesday of the week that contains the 13th day."
Sounds good to me.
Now, let's take a look at a chart of one proxy for crude oil "WTI" West Texas Intermediate:
Interesting to note that in a rising market, the sample dates tend to be the "lows for the month" – consistently - even in instances when prices were higher just prior to the sample date.
Many of our financial markets clearly exhibit the finger prints of the same "Orwellian" invisible hand.
© 2007 Rob Kirby
Contact Information
Rob Kirby | Kirby Analytics | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | E-mail
