WTI looks to settle above $48 following EIA and Baker Hughes data

• EIA says crude oil stocks in the U.S. stayed virtually unchanged in the week to Dec. 28.
• Baker Hughes rig count drops to 877.
• WTI gains nearly 7% for the week.

After staying indecisive and failing to make a significant move in the last few days, crude oil prices finally gained traction on Friday and the barrel of West Texas Intermediate rose to its highest level in more than two weeks at $49.20. With markets going into a consolidation phase ahead of the weekend, the WTI erased a part of its daily gains and was last seen trading at $48.20, where it was up 3% on a daily basis.

Earlier today, China’s Commerce Ministry announced that the U.S. and China will hold vice-ministerial level trade talks on January 7 and 8 to revive optimism and help the market sentiment improve, which provided a much-needed boost to the risk-sensitive crude oil prices.

Meanwhile, the weekly EIA report from the U.S. showed that crude oil inventories stayed virtually unchanged in the U.S. in the week ending December 28. Additionally, Baker Hughes reported that the total number of active oil rigs in the U.S. fell to 877 from 885 this week to ease concerns over high oil output from the U.S. and allowed the WTI to cling to its gains. With today’s upsurge, the WTI is now nearly 7% on the week and looks to post its largest weekly percentage increase since early October.

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