- Crude oil turns north following last week’s drop.
- Eyes on Chinese PMI data and weekly US stock reports.
After closing the previous seven weeks in the positive territory, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate lost nearly 2% last week and closed at $62.83. Although this drop seemed to be a technical correction, the bearish pressure remained intact as crude oil inventories in the U.S. last week showed a larger-than-expected buildup and the U.S. President Trump called upon OPEC to lower crude oil prices.
Nevertheless, the WTI started the new week relatively quiet and moved sideways around $63 mark before gaining traction in the second half of the day. As of writing, the WTI was trading at $63.53, adding 1.12% on a daily basis.
Commenting on Trump’s claim that he told OPEC to lower oil prices, “No representative of OPEC or the Saudi government has come forward to acknowledge any discussion in this regard,” noted Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, told Reuters. “This obvious effort to push gasoline prices down has been attempted previously by Trump and while forcing an initial price decline, such pullbacks have been followed by fresh price highs, sometimes within a matter of days.”
On Tuesday, manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI data from China will could impact crude oil’s price action as a positive reading would hint at improved demand outlook in the world’s second biggest oil consumer. Later in the week, investors will be paying close attention to the API’s and the EIA’s weekly crude oil data.
Technical levels to consider
Share
