Too high on crack? How refinery spreads may have tripped up tanker investors

Investors who were caught out by the recent surge in product tanker rates and share prices may have spent too much time on crack.

Crack spreads, that is, and according to analyst Jonathan Chappell of Evercore ISI, this esoteric aspect of the refining process may have had some investors betting that rates — and stocks — would go down when they in fact shot up.