Energy prices in the United States rose on Tuesday after a huge winter storm hit the southern and central parts of the country, with 150 million people under storm warnings. Millions of people have been left without power in freezing temperatures.
Natural gas futures for March delivery rose as much as 6.3 percent, the biggest jump since Feb. 1, when a storm hit the Northeast. Demand for natural gas has risen but disruption from the storm means gas production has plummeted.
The Texas energy regulator said on Saturday it was aware that local natural gas distributors “may be required to pay extraordinarily high prices in the market for natural gas and may be subjected to other extraordinary expenses” in responding to the storm.
For oil, futures jumped more than 5 percent over the weekend as the coldest weather in three decades interrupted road transportation and some wells had to shut down. On Tuesday, West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose 0.7 percent to $59.87 a barrel, the highest in 13 months. Futures for Brent crude, the European benchmark, fell 0.2 percent. The largest refineries in the country, including Port Arthur in Texas, closed on Monday because the weather had led to power outages across the state.
“Some producers, especially in the Permian Basin and Panhandle, are experiencing unprecedented freezing conditions which caused concerns for employee safety and affected production,” the Texas energy regulator said Monday.
Markets in the United States were shut on Monday for the Presidents’ Day holiday.
Futures of stock indexes on Wall Street are set to open higher on Tuesday, following most European and Asian indexes higher. Last week, the S&P 500 reached a record high amid anticipation of a fiscal stimulus package in Washington, and growing confidence that vaccines should enable the global economy to recover later in the year.
Europe
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The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.1 percent, extending a 1.3 percent gain from Monday. In Germany, the ZEW survey of investor sentiment recorded a big jump in future expectations for the economy, but the view of the current situation worsened.
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In Britain, the government reached its target of vaccinating 15 million people, the most vulnerable in the country, by mid-February but now the prime minister, Boris Johnson, is under increasing pressure to lay out a clear plan for the end of the long lockdown. The central bank has forecast a relatively strong economic rebound later in the year, but business leaders have warned that companies need to prepare to reopen and the recovery could be impeded if they are given enough support. The pound rose above $1.39 this…
Read More: Natural Gas Prices Jump After Freeze Disrupts Production: Live Updates