Crude Oil Futures: Extra downside looks favoured

Pablo Piovano FXStreet

CME Group’s flash data for crude oil futures markets noted open interest shrank for the second session in a row on Friday, this time by almost 30K contracts. Volume, instead, remained choppy and rose by nearly 73K contracts.

WTI faces initial hurdle at the 200-day SMA

Prices of the barrel of the WTI dropped to 6-month lows near the $87.00 mark on Friday, regaining some poise and closing the session with modest gains. The small uptick was accompanied by diminishing open interest, hinting at the idea that further decline could be in the pipeline in the near term. Occasional bullish attempts, in the meantime, are expected to meet the next hurdle at the 200-day SMA, today at $95.25.

Author

Pablo Piovano

FXStreet

Born and bred in Argentina, Pablo has been carrying on with his passion for FX markets and trading since his first college years.

EUR/USD deflates to fresh lows, targets 1.1600

The selling pressure on EUR/USD now gathers extra pace, prompting the pair to hit fresh multi-week lows in the 1.1625-1.1620 band on Friday. The continuation of the downward bias comes in response to further gains in the US Dollar as market participants continue to assess the mixed release of US Nonfarm Payrolls in December.

GBP/USD breaks below 1.3400, challenges the 200-day SMA

GBP/USD remains under heavy fire and retreats for the fourth consecutive day on Friday. Indeed, Cable suffers the strong performance of the Greenback, intensified post-mixed NFP, and trades at shouting distance from its critical 200-day SMA near 1.3380.

Gold flirts with yearly tops around $4,500

Gold keeps its positive bias on Friday, adding to Thursday’s advance and challenging yearly highs in the $4,500 region per troy ounce. The risk-off sentiment favours the yellow metal despite the firmer tone in the Greenback and rising US Treasury yields.