Oil Bubble?

Jerry Taylor at Cato lays out several reasons for the rise in oil (and commodities generally). First, he lays out the "fundamental" explanation:

I am unsure whether we’re witnessing a bubble in oil markets today. Two “non-bubble” explanations for the price run, after all, are perfectly plausible. First, it may very well be that low-cost crude is running low and/or that demand will continue to surge to such an extent that prices have nowhere to go but up. Second, OPEC member states may continue to invest modestly in upstream capacity in order to maximize revenues, so even if there is plenty of low-cost oil still available in the world, the cartel will prevent new supply from reaching the market. For the record, I am skeptical of both propositions, but I do not dismiss them out of hand.

Then he moves on to the commodities as an asset class explanation of which I guess I'm a part:

The best argument against “speculation” in the subsequent price spiral is offered by oil economist Phil Verleger, a fellow I think quite highly of. Verleger believes that, whatever truth there might be to the simple “supply-and-demand” story I offered above, those price increases were greatly exacerbated by a huge move of dollars into commodity futures. That influx of cash was not driven by speculation (classically defined). According to Verleger, it was driven instead by the market recognition of the fact that, historically speaking, (i) commodities provided better returns over long periods of time than provided by equities, and (ii) returns on commodity investments are negatively correlated with returns on equities.

Hence, market actors thought they found an investment vehicle that provided a hedge against volatility in stock markets while also promising excellent long-term returns to boot.

And finally, the Fed inflation explanation:

The most recent Fed actions to combat the deteriorating state of the macroeconomy added even more fuel to the oil price fire. With market actors increasingly convinced that the Fed is willing to entertain inflation in the course of injecting liquidity into the market, investors are looking for investments to hedge against inflation. And what do you know? Returns on commodities have historically been better during inflationary periods than during non-inflationary periods. Ben Bernanke thus sent another strong infusion of cash into commodity futures – again, largely into oil and gas futures.

The increased demand for oil futures drives spot prices because it diverts oil from immediate use into inventories. The stepped-up infusion of oil into public inventories (the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the emerging state inventory maintained by the Chinese government, for instance) has also contributed to the diversion of oil from immediate use and thus, has further increased prices. Federal mandates for low-sulfur fuel hasn’t helped either.

Taylor never really decides whether we have a bubble in the oil market, but he seems to come down on the nay side. As for me, well I tend to think that commodities in general are bubbly. That is a direct consequence of Fed policy and it will end as all the other Fed induced bubbles have - commodities will fall back to a price that really reflects fundamentals. When that happens, I have no idea but my guess is that it will happen when something causes the Fed to tighten policy. And that doesn't appear imminent.