WTI extends slide to weekly lows near $61 after EIA report

EIA shows larger-than-expected build in crude inventories.
Trade conflict continues to cloud the demand outlook.
OPEC to continue to monitor the market ahead of June meeting.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Crude oil came under a renewed pressure in the second half of the day after the weekly data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration revealed a larger-than-expected increase in the crude oil inventories. The barrel of West Texas Intermediate, which rose toward the $64 mark earlier this week, was last seen trading at $61.32, losing 2.65% on a daily basis.

According to the EIA, commercial crude oil inventories in the U.S. rose 4.7 million barrels in the week ending May 17 to miss the market expectation for a draw of 600K barrels. Commenting on the day, "It's at the extreme end of the range of possibilities for a bearish report. It's about as bad as it could have been considering the fact that driving season is so close," Bob Yawger, director of futures at Mizuho in New York, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin today told reporters that he didn't have any plans to travel to China for the next round of trade talks yet, suggesting that the trade dispute is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon and reminding investors of its potential negative impact on the oil demand outlook.

Earlier this week, OPEC+ said that it will continue to monitor the markets ahead of the June meeting in Vienna and refrain from making any decision on the output.

Technical levels to consider

WTI

Overview
Today last price	61.32
Today Daily Change	-1.67
Today Daily Change %	-2.65
Today daily open	62.99

Trends
Daily SMA20	62.76
Daily SMA50	62.25
Daily SMA100	58.19
Daily SMA200	60.09

Levels
Previous Daily High	63.79
Previous Daily Low	62.8
Previous Weekly High	63.83
Previous Weekly Low	60.79
Previous Monthly High	66.57
Previous Monthly Low	60.23
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	63.18
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	63.41
Daily Pivot Point S1	62.6
Daily Pivot Point S2	62.2
Daily Pivot Point S3	61.61
Daily Pivot Point R1	63.59
Daily Pivot Point R2	64.18
Daily Pivot Point R3	64.58

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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