WTI dropped 6% on the day as Saudi oil supply meets demand

WTI drops to the lowest levels of the day following the Saudi energy Minister's bullish statement.
WTI has dropped to a low of $58.54, travelling down from a high of $62.55 and down some 6% on the day.

Ross J Burland FXStreet

The price of a barrel of oil has just hit the lowest levels since the week's attack on Saudi oil facilities following bullish remarks from the Saudi Energy Minister. WTI has dropped to a low of $58.54, travelling down from a high of $62.55 and down some 5% on the day at its lowest levels.

Speculators took profits at the highs yesterday considering there were no immediate escalations on the geopolitical front until the U.S administration claimed to have intelligence that Iran was indeed responsible for the attacks, but an outright military retaliation seems to have been averted and instead, the US will not seek war on Iran but will impose sanctions.

Saudi Energy Minister has said that supply is fully back online

The price of oil found further relief on the statement from the Saudi Energy Minister has said that supply is fully back online while production will be fully back online by the end of September.

Saudi energy minister: Oil supply is fully back online

"We acknowledge that OPEC nations, and particularly Saudi Arabia, have a direct incentive to downplay the impact of the disruption, as each individual nation would benefit from disincentivizing others' production," analysts at TD Securities had to say on the matter at the start of the week.

WTI levels

The market bounced hard on the fundamental weekend news which has thrown technicals off, but with the fundamentals now calming, technicals can come back into play and the downside is in play. The price surged to the vicinity of a 127.20% Fibonacci extension of the July swing highs to Aug swing lows but has since moved back, swiftly, to the 78.6% Fibo of the same range and prior Sep' highs in the 58.50/70s. A break below there will open the 61.8% Fibo and Aug resistance just below the 57 handle. On a re-escalation of fundamentals, the April highs at 66.58 will b back in vouge.

Author

Ross J Burland

FXStreet

Ross J Burland, born in England, UK, is a sportsman at heart. He played Rugby and Judo for his county, Kent and the South East of England Rugby team.

AUD/USD bulls regain control above 0.6950 amid USD retreat

AUD/USD regains traction and extends the previous day's bounce from the weekly low, aiming for 0.7000 in Asia on Friday. The overnight pullback in US bond yields keeps the US Dollar below an 18-month high, which in turn offers some support to the pair. Meanwhile, hawkish RBA expectations also keep the major underpinned.

USD/JPY holds gains near 158.00 after Japan's weak Household Spending data

USD/JPY clings to gains around 158.00 after data showed on Friday that Japan's Household Spending fell for the ninth straight month, undermining the Japanese Yen. Meanwhile, the US Dollar remains depressed as the overnight fall in US bond yields counters a hawkish Fed and geopolitical uncertainties, could cap any downside in the pair.

Gold remains range-bound below $4,200

Gold has given up some ground after an initial bullish attempt to reach weekly highs, returning to below the $4,200 mark per troy ounce on Friday. The US Dollar’s strong upside momentum, combined with rising US Treasury yields across the curve, seems to keep further gains in the yellow metal under scrutiny.

Has Bitcoin really escaped the macro forces it was built to fight?

Over 17 years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto designed Bitcoin (BTC) on the back of a global financial crisis as an alternative to the global monetary system outside the control of central banks, governments and traditional intermediaries. This raises a key question: has Bitcoin really become independent of the macroeconomic forces it was built to challenge?

The Euro is not the sick man of Europe. France's bond market is

EUR/USD remains under pressure, near the 17-month low of 1.1161 reached on Monday. The pair has lost more than 7% since its yearly peak, as concerns over France's public finances increasingly weigh on the single currency. But behind the weakness of the Euro (EUR), the problem does not necessarily lie with the European economy as a whole.