MARKETWIRE ALERTS

MARKETWIRE ALERTS 

MarketWire Afternoon News for March 13th:

Updated at 5:00 PM ET 

HEADLINES:

— CFTC: Speculators Boost Net Longs as WTI Runs Above $100

— Baker Hughes: Weekly North America Rig Count Dips by 6

— Trump Eyes Waving Jones Act on U.S. Shipping Amid Iran War

— AAR: Petroleum Carloads Up 9.1% for Week Ended March 8

— UMich: U.S. Consumer Sentiment Hits 2026 Low on Iran War

— BEA: US Q4 GDP Growth Crawled to 0.7% On Federal Shutdown

— U.S. Rack ULSD Rises 19.4cts as Supply Concerns Persist

NEWS:

CFTC: Speculators Boost Net Longs as WTI Runs Above $100

Bullish bets in NYMEX West Texas Intermediate crude jumped during the week to March 10 as futures of the U.S. oil benchmark briefly rose above $100 bbl in response to supply concerns triggered by the Iran war, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed Friday (3/13).

Speculative net longs in gasoline and distillates, meanwhile, fell that week. In contrast, net shorts in natural gas declined, indicating a less bearish position.

In WTI, noncommercial long positions jumped by 3,9493 contracts to 394,651, the CFTC said in its weekly Commitment of Traders report for the week to March 10.  Noncommercial short positions fell by 16,372 contracts to 166,636.

This caused net noncommercial longs in WTI to jump 55,865 to 228,015.

Open interest in WTI fell by 21,712 contracts to 2,051,321.

Those moves came as the front-month contact in NYMEX WTI hit $119.48 bbl on March 9 on news that Iran had installed a new supreme leader against the White House’s wishes while the Middle East’s busiest petroleum shipping lane remained closed amid Tehran’s war with the U.S. and Israel.

In NYMEX RBOB gasoline futures, noncommercial long positions fell by 14,925 contracts to 96,399, while short positions rose by 3,939 contracts to 23,446. As a result, the noncommercial net long position declined by 18,864 contracts to 72,953.

Open interest in gasoline were down by 22,512 contracts to 391,278.

In NYMEX ULSD futures, noncommercial long positions fell by 12,231 contracts to 44,283, while short positions declined by 7,646 contracts to 31,213. The changes narrowed the noncommercial net position in ULSD by 4,585 contracts to 13,070.

Open interest in ULSD tumbled by 22,499 contracts to 287,020.

In NYMEX natural gas futures, noncommercial long positions slid by 2,847 contracts to 207,630, while short positions fell 22,413 to 394,486. That resulted in natural gas net shorts declining to186,856 contracts.

Open interest in natural gas fell by 40,951 contracts to 1,565,341.

Baker Hughes: Weekly North America Rig Count Dips by 6 

North American energy drilling activity fell by six rigs this week, adding to the prior week’s 8-rig drop, according to Baker Hughes’ weekly rig count report released Friday (3/13).

The report showed the regional rig count at 750 in the current week, compared to 756 recorded in the previous week. Rigs for Canada and the U.S. combined were lower than 791 actively deployed in the same week of last year.

In Canada, the rig count fell to 197, as eight oil rigs did not show activity.

The U.S. rig count rose by one, resulting in the regional decline of eight. Inland waters and land U.S. rigs rose by one and seven, while offshore dropped by six, for a total of 553.

By trajectory, directional rigs in the U.S. rose by four to 54 on a weekly basis. Horizontal remained unchanged at 485 while vertical rigs fell by one to stand at 12 during the same period.

Year-over-year, the U.S. rig count dropped by 39 to 551, compared to 592 reported on the same week last year.

Trump Eyes Waving Jones Act on U.S. Shipping Amid Iran War

U.S. President Donald Trump is considering suspending ​the Jones Act for U.S. shipping to allow international tankers to transport energy and agricultural products between U.S. ports if necessary, amid a squeeze in vessel availability caused by the Iran war, media reports said Friday (3/13).

“We’ll take a look, we’ll take a look at everything, and it’s all going to work out,” Trump was quoted saying in a radio interview.

The Jones Act is the bedrock of U.S. maritime policy, mandating that goods shipped between American ports be carried on vessels that are U.S.-built, owned, and crewed. It essentially acts as a protectionist barrier designed to ensure a robust domestic merchant marine fleet for both economic stability and national security. The act was established on June 5, 1920, in the wake of the World War 1.
The U.S.-Israel war on Iran and the effective closure of the Persian Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz has sent maritime charter rates soaring and idled hundreds of vessels – including U.S. registered ones – that left huge gaps in the global energy supply chain.

AAR: Petroleum Carloads Up 9.1% for Week Ended March 8

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reports that petroleum and petroleum product carloads totaled 10,816 during the week ended March 7, up by 9.1% from the same week a year ago.

Year-to-date, petroleum and petroleum products carloads totaled 98,889, up 7.3% from the corresponding period of the prior year, an AAR report published on Wednesday (3/11) showed.

Weekly traffic for the profiled week totaled 514,996, up 3.5% from the same week a year ago.

Total carloads for the week ended March 7 reached 231,889, higher by 5.7% from the same week of last year.

Weekly intermodal volume was 283,107 containers and trailers, up 1.8% from the corresponding week of the prior year.

Year-to-date, U.S. railroads reported carloads at 1,994,393, up 5.5% on the year.

Cumulative intermodal units were 2,474,208, down 0.7% from a year ago.

Total rail traffic for the first nine weeks of the year was 4,468,601 carloads and intermodal units, up 2% on the year.

UMich: U.S. Consumer Sentiment Hits 2026 Low on Iran War

U.S. consumer sentiment has fallen to a 2026 low as concerns over the impact of the Iran weighs on the U.S. economic outlook, an early March reading from the University of Michigan (UMich) said Friday (3/13).

“Consumer sentiment dipped about 2%, reaching its lowest reading of the year,” Joanne Hsu, UMich’s director for its surveyors of consumers, said in a statement.

Hsu noted that interviews with consumers carried out by UMich prior to the start of the U.S. military campaign in Iran on February 27 had shown an improvement in sentiment from the previous month.

But lower readings in the nine days since “completely erased those initial gains”, she added.

Gasoline prices had exerted the most immediate impact felt by consumers in early March, UMich said.

The retail price of gasoline at U.S. pumps rose 43.3cts during the week ended March 9 to reach an average of $3.502 gallon. For the year, it was up 48.7cts gallon.

In its Friday statement, UMich showed its Index of Consumer Sentiment at 55.5 for March, versus the 56.6 and the 57 readings for February and a year ago, respectively.

BEA: US Q4 GDP Growth Crawled to 0.7% On Federal Shutdown

The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025 as a federal government shutdown slowed growth, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ (BEA) second estimate published Friday (3/13).

The downward revision from the advance estimate of 1.4% came as exports, consumer and government spending, and investments were all revised lower.

The latest gross domestic product (GDP) figure marks a sharp deceleration from the 4.4% growth seen in the third quarter. The record-long 43-day government shutdown from the start of October to mid-November shaved off one percentage point from fourth quarter GDP growth, the BEA estimated.

Despite the slowdown, the report highlighted continued expansion in consumer spending and business investment, though these gains were offset by lower government spending and a drop in exports.

The BEA estimated that real GDP increased by 2.1% for the full year 2025, compared to the advance estimate of 2.2%, down from the 2.8% annual growth recorded during the previous year.

Inflation indicators were unchanged from the advance estimate. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 2.9% year-on-year in the fourth quarter. Core PCE, excluding food and energy, however, moderated to 2.7% from 2.9% in Q3.

The U.S. dollar index slid in reaction to the data release, but at 100.04 was still up 0.29 points on the day.

U.S. Rack ULSD Rises 19.4cts as Supply Concerns Persist

Wholesale rack prices for ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) across the United States moved higher Friday (3/13), extending the week’s upward trend even as energy futures eased from earlier highs amid ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Nationwide ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) rack prices averaged $3.8661 gallon, rising 19.43cts from Thursday’s $3.6718 gallon, according to DTN data. Compared with last Friday, when ULSD racks averaged $3.6983 gallon, prices are 16.78cts higher, reflecting continued volatility across crude and refined product markets.

Conventional unleaded gasoline rack prices averaged $3.0709 gallon, an increase of 16.90cts from Thursday’s $2.9019 gallon. Compared with last Friday’s national average of $2.7306 gallon, gasoline racks are 34.03cts higher.

ULSD racks moved higher across most regions where data was available. The largest increase occurred in PADD 3, where prices climbed 23.86cts to $3.8487 gallon, followed by PADD 1, up 23.03cts to $4.0354 gallon. PADD 4 rose 16.35cts to $3.7927 gallon, while PADD 5 increased 10.79cts to $4.3520 gallon. Data for PADD 2 distillate racks was not available in Friday’s source alerts.

Relative to the national ULSD rack average of $3.8661 gallon, PADD 5 held the strongest premium at 48.59cts above the U.S. benchmark, followed by PADD 1 at 16.93cts above the national average. PADD 3 and PADD 4 traded slightly below the national average at discounts of 1.74cts and 7.34cts, respectively.

On gasoline racks, PADD 5 posted the largest increase, rising 29.97cts to $3.6806 gallon. PADD 3 followed with an 18.50cts increase to $2.7418 gallon, while PADD 1 climbed 17.49cts to $2.7443 gallon. PADD 4 rose 16.47cts to $2.8900 gallon, and PADD 2 posted the smallest gain, increasing 6.54cts to $2.5023 gallon.

Compared with the national gasoline average of $3.0709 gallon, all regions traded at a discount except PADD 5, which stood at a 60.97cts premium to the U.S. benchmark. The deepest discount was seen in PADD 2 at 56.86cts below the national average, followed by PADD 3 at 32.91cts, PADD 1 at 32.66cts, and PADD 4 at 18.09cts below the benchmark.

In the futures market, energy contracts traded lower after the sharp rally earlier this week. The front-month NYMEX ULSD April contract traded at $3.8151 gallon, down 8.38cts, while NYMEX RBOB gasoline for April slipped 3.83cts to $2.9263 gallon. Meanwhile, WTI crude traded at $93.42 barrel, down $2.31, as markets continued to digest geopolitical developments in the Middle East following the recent surge in oil prices.