War is over, if you want it, President Donald Trump in his State of the Union address once again declared “We have ended the war on American Energy-and we have ended the war on beautiful clean coal. We are now an exporter of energy to the world, as well as stating that the era of U.S. economics surrender is over”

These words, of course, are welcome by those in the energy industry that really felt that they were targeted by the past Administration for trying to do their job and provide energy to an energy-starved economy. It was the ingenuity of the energy industry that leads to the U.S. shale revolution and really helped set the stage for a new era of energy dominance. The U.S. is not only one of the biggest users of energy, they are now the global hub and energy crossroads of the world. We are an emerging exporter, importer, producer, and refiner. Instead of the old mantra that “we can’t drill our way to energy independence” we are now relying on grit, technology and innovation and the power of the desire to make a profit has done what many said was undoable. Yet, the U.S. energy industry went ahead and did it anyway. That dominance, of course, has put the U.S. in a unique economic position that will allow our economy to grow strongly in the decades ahead and enhance the ability of U.S. businesses to compete on a global stage. Add to that Trumps tax cut and that is why we have set the stage for the strongest outlook for the U.S. economy in many years. Even with the big back to back two -day correction is it any wonder why the U.S. economy is leading the globe on this amazing economic comeback story.

The comeback story on oil also stalled as the market worried about a plunging stock market and the reality that as you get into refinery maintenance season you may see crude supply start to rise. The American Petroleum Institute (API) did report a larger than expected 3.229-million-barrel increase in overall crude supply but the bearishness of that build was tempered with a reported 2.383 million barrels drop in the Cushing Oklahoma delivery point which continues its record pace of withdrawals. U.S. exports slowed a bit as the export window, compared to the Brent crude, came in substantially.