Night futures open: bitumen up over 3%, crude oil and fuel oil up over 2%

Bitumen leading a broad energy and petrochemical complex higher points to a supply- or cost-driven move rather than an isolated product story, since crude, fuel oil and the downstream plastics chain are all participating. The breadth matters: when feedstock and derivative contracts rise together, the signal is usually about the input side of the barrel, not end-user demand. Caustic soda's decline is the useful counterpoint, suggesting the strength is concentrated in oil-linked chains rather than commodities generally. Whether bitumen's outperformance persists once the crude move settles is the open question.