Transportation Fuels First Look - Gasoline prices hover near six-month lows as summer driving winds down

• Scroll down for a chart of the RBOB-WTI crack spread, a measure of refinery margin. It shows elevated cracks this year
• Total motor gasoline inventories fell by 1.6 MMBbl for the week ending August 16 and are 3% below the five-year average for this time of year

• Gasoline futures in New York fell to a six-month low, reaching the lowest seasonal level in two years as of August
• National average pump prices dropped to a five-month low of $3.414/gal, decreasing for 24 of the last 26 days
• The AAA data shows a significant drop in prices since March, aligning with the seasonal reduction in demand post-summer driving season

• Scroll down for a chart of the NY Harbor ULSD-WTI crack spread, a measure of refinery margin. It shows elevated cracks this year
• Distillate fuel inventories fell by 3.3 MMBbl for the week ending August 16 and are about 10% below the five-year average for this time of year

Money managers dump diesel as supply glut weighs on futures market (Blommberg)

• Net-long positions on US diesel fell by 4,086 contracts to 24,548, reaching a four-year low according to CFTC data for the week ending Aug. 20
• A global oversupply, with Europe facing a surplus it likely can't absorb and the US seeing 14-year low demand, pushed NYH ULSD futures to their lowest in over a year
• Bearish bets on gasoil also fell to the lowest level in more than a year on ICE
• In contrast, market participants increased bullish positions on gasoline as demand expectations remained more optimistic