Crude Oil rises on Wednesday as energies shrug off another inventories surge

WTI climbed back towards $78.00 per barrel on Wednesday.
API US barrel counts lurched higher once more.
Geopolitical concerns and hopes of refinery expansion keep barrel bids high.

Joshua Gibson FXStreet

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) US Crude Oil rebounded on Wednesday as barrel traders continue to price in possible supply lane constraints amidst geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East. Hopes of expanded US refinery activity eating away at a buildup of US Crude Oil supplies are also keeping barrel prices higher, but a growing overhang of US barrel counts is getting harder for energy markets to ignore.

According to the American Petroleum Insitute (API), US Crude Oil supply stocks unexpectedly rose once again for the week ended February 16, with an additional 7.168 million barrels added to US supply. This comes well above the forecast 4.298 million barrels and adds even further to the previous week’s surprise glut of 8.52 million barrels.

According to API barrel counts, US Crude Oil supplies are up an excess of nearly 18 million barrels since the week ended November 2.

US Crude Oil refineries have been slowly coming back online since overall refined petroleum product output declined in 2022 as several refineries went offline for overhauls, upgrades, or security concerns. Barrel traders are betting on an uptick in US refining capacity to eat away at record Crude Oil production within the US and other countries that are not part of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

WTI technical outlook

WTI US Crude Oil climbed over 2% bottom-to-top from Wednesday’s low bids near $76.25, and WTI is climbing towards $78.00 per barrel as energy markets pin back into near-term highs.

Daily candlesticks show US Crude Oil in a notably sideways bent as bids knock into the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) near $77.55. WTI has failed to pierce into fresh high ground since peaking at $79.20 in January, and Crude Oil longs are struggling to drag WTI further into bull country after barrel prices bottomed out in December at $67.97.

WTI peaked just shy of $94.00 per barrel last September, and remains down over 17% from that high.

WTI hourly chart

WTI daily chart

WTI US OIL

Overview
Today last price	77.94
Today Daily Change	0.81
Today Daily Change %	1.05
Today daily open	77.13

Trends
Daily SMA20	76.12
Daily SMA50	74.14
Daily SMA100	76.7
Daily SMA200	77.52

Levels
Previous Daily High	78.48
Previous Daily Low	76.77
Previous Weekly High	78.47
Previous Weekly Low	75.51
Previous Monthly High	79.19
Previous Monthly Low	69.41
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	77.42
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	77.82
Daily Pivot Point S1	76.44
Daily Pivot Point S2	75.75
Daily Pivot Point S3	74.74
Daily Pivot Point R1	78.15
Daily Pivot Point R2	79.17
Daily Pivot Point R3	79.86

Author

Joshua Gibson

FXStreet

Joshua joins the FXStreet team as an Economics and Finance double major from Vancouver Island University with twelve years' experience as an independent trader focusing on technical analysis.

AUD/USD meets fresh supply and tests 0.7100 amid weak Australian PMIs

AUD/USD has come under fresh selling pressure and is testing 0.7100 in the Asian session on Wednesday. Australia's flash PMIs showed manufacturing slipped into contraction and services expanding slowly for a second straight month, renewing the pair's downside. Furthermore, a bullish US Dollar acts as a headwind for the pair as traders keenly await the crucial Trump-Xi summit on Thursday. Meanwhile, markets shrug off US-Iran indirect talks.

USD/JPY stands firm near mid-157.00s, close to two-week high

USD/JPY hovers around mid-157.00s in the Asian session on Wednesday, near two-week highs touched last Friday as the BoJ's dovish rate hike continues to undermine the Japanese Yen. Meanwhile, the US Dollar remains firm amid the Fed's hawkish stance, adding support to the pair, though JPY intervention fears cap further gains. Markets pay little heed to the completion of the round of US-Iran indirect talks ahead of Trump-Xi meeting.

Gold falls to weekly troughs below $4,300

Gold rapidly leaves behind two daily upticks in a row and comes under heightened downside pressure midweek. Indeed, the precious metal breaches below the $4,300 mark per troy ounce to reach weekly lows amid the marked recovery in the US Dollar and the generalised upbeat tone in the US money market.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin and Ethereum consolidate gains as XRP extends breakout

Bitcoin (BTC) is moderating on Wednesday, trading near $86,000 as the crypto market broadly consolidates. Ethereum (ETH) mirrors BTC’s stable outlook, holding above $2,700. Ripple (XRP), meanwhile, edges higher for the sixth consecutive day, currently sitting above $1.61 as bulls tighten their grip.

Oil rebounds above $90: Why is the Canadian Dollar still falling?

USD/CAD extends its advance on Wednesday and trades around 1.4090 at the time of writing, up 0.21% on the day. The pair remains close to its recent highs, supported by a firm US Dollar (USD), while the Canadian Dollar (CAD) struggles to recover losses from the recent decline in Oil prices. Oil dynamics, however, are becoming less negative for the Loonie.

BoJ Recap: Not as hawkish as expected

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) raised its short-term interest-rate target to 1.25% from 1.00% in a 7-2 vote, marking another step in the normalisation of monetary policy and widely matching what everyone has been expecting for weeks.