Oil on the way down again, WTI hits $66.00 as production increases scuttle the bull trend

• Oil slumps as major producers ponder lifting production limits to combat elevated oil prices.
• Too much, too fast has turned oil’s rapid rise into an inflation and growth risk.

Crude oil is continuing to fall to kick off the new trading week, with WTI crude falling into 66.00  per barrel as output rises begin to force back elevated prices.

OPEC has joined forces with Russia, the world’s largest producer of crude oil, and are set to begin lifting self-imposed production caps, after forcibly cutting back on output figures in an attempt to combat the US supply glut that has flooded global markets. Restricted OPEC production and continuous geopolitical tensions from the Middle East have seen WTI crude oil prices lift nearly 26% from January’s low of 57.88 to a recent high of 72.83. OPEC and Russia recently announced they will begin to weigh lifting production caps as lifting oil costs threaten to hamper economic growth and spark lop-sided inflation.

WTI levels to watch

Crude’s drop on rising production limits is beginning to pick up pace, and WTI is trading into 65.90 after four straight trading days of declines, and on pace to make it a fifth. Current action is running into support from a former resistance level around the 66.00 handle, and a further break lower could test into April’s low of 61.80; the 50.0 Fibo retracement level of the recent leg up also rests nearby at 65.35, and bullish traders will be hoping for a strong bounce off of the rising trendline that begins at January’s low of 27.70.