WTI Oil Settled Above The $78 Level After EIA Report

Key Insights

• WTI oil is up by more than 2.5% in today’s trading session. 
• Natural gas rebounds after the strong sell-off. 
• Silver pulls back as traders take profits after the strong rally. 

WTI Oil Tested Resistance At $78.40

WTI oil made an attempt to settle above the resistance at $78.40 after the release of the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report. The report indicated that crude inventories declined by 5.9 million barrels from the previous week, compared to analyst consensus of -1.65 million barrels.

Total motor gasoline increased by 2.5 million barrels, while distillate fuel inventories declined by 0.2 million barrels. Imports declined by 1 million bpd from the previous week. Domestic oil production remained unchanged at 12.1 million bpd.

It looks that WTI oil is moving higher as traders are ready to bet on rising demand from China. In addition, recent reports indicated that Russia had problems exporting its oil, although it remains to be seen whether these reports show the real picture.

Natural Gas Rebounds After The Major Pullback

Natural gas rebounded above the $5.50 level as traders took profits after the strong move which pushed natural gas from $7.00 to the recent lows at $5.25.

This move was triggered by the change in weather forecasts, which showed that the final days of the year would be warm.

Today’s upside move looks like a normal rebound after the strong sell-off. Natural gas markets will need more positive catalysts for a sustainable rebound towards recent levels near $7.00.

Silver Pulls Back As Traders Take Some Profits Off The Table

Silver declined towards the $24.00 level as traders decided to take some profits off the table after yesterday’s strong rally.

Meanwhile, gold continued its attempts to settle above the resistance level at $1815. It remains to be seen whether gold will be able to gain additional upside momentum today as the U.S. dollar is gaining some ground against a broad basket of currencies.

Platinum and palladium have also moved lower after yesterday’s rebound. Platinum declined towards the $1000 level, while palladium settled near the $1660 level.

Copper Climbed Above The $3.80 Level

Copper markets are trying to gain upside momentum. The price of copper moved above the $3.80 level, but copper does not get sufficient support for a strong move. Most likely, copper will need additional catalysts to get back to the recent highs near the $3.90 level.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.