WTI plummets below $60 following US Pres. Trump's remarks on Iran conflict

US Pres. Trump says US is ready to embrace peace.
Crude oil prices fall sharply following earlier upsurge.
Crude oil stocks in US rose unexpectedly in week ending January 3rd.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Crude oil prices came under heavy selling pressure in the last hour after US President Donald Trump took the high road in US-Iran conflict. As of writing, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading at $59.90, losing 4.4% on a daily basis.

De-escalation of tensions in Middle East weigh on oil

In his prepared statement on Wednesday, President Trump acknowledged that no Americans were harmed from Iranian missile strikes on US bases in Iraq and said Iran was appearing to be standing down. "The US is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it," Trump added.

Earlier in the day, the initial market reaction to reports of Iranian missile strikes caused the WTI to jump to its highest level since April at $65.62 on heightened concerns over supply disruptions.

In the meantime, the weekly report published by the US Energy Information Administration showed that crude oil inventories in the US rose by 1.2 million barrels in the week ending January 3rd, compared with analysts' expectation for a draw of 3.5 million barrels, and put additional weight on crude oil prices.

Technical levels to watch for

WTI

Overview
Today last price	60.15
Today Daily Change	-2.56
Today Daily Change %	-4.08
Today daily open	62.71

Trends
Daily SMA20	60.88
Daily SMA50	58.56
Daily SMA100	57
Daily SMA200	57.91

Levels
Previous Daily High	63.17
Previous Daily Low	62.15
Previous Weekly High	64.11
Previous Weekly Low	60.67
Previous Monthly High	62.38
Previous Monthly Low	55.41
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	62.54
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	62.78
Daily Pivot Point S1	62.18
Daily Pivot Point S2	61.66
Daily Pivot Point S3	61.16
Daily Pivot Point R1	63.2
Daily Pivot Point R2	63.7
Daily Pivot Point R3	64.22

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.

GBP/USD eases from tops, retests 1.3630

GBP/USD clings to its daily gains, although it gives away some gains and recedes toward the 1.3630 region on Thursday. Cable’s uptick comes despite the bounce in the Greenback, which manages to regain some balance in the wake of Wednesday’s deep pullback.

EUR/USD turns negative near 1.1670

EUR/USD now trades with modest losses around 1.1670, coming all the way down from earlier tops beyond 1.1700 the figure. The pair’s decline follows the acceptable rebound in the US Dollar as market participants continue to closely follow developments from the US money market.

Gold comes under pressure below $4,500

Gold faces some correction and slips back below the key $4,500 mark per troy ounce on Thursday. The precious metal’s daily decline comes amid the slightly improvement in the US Dollar and rising US Treasury yields across the curve.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP extend gains as ETFs inflows and improved sentiment boost outlook

Cryptocurrency prices are extending gains on Thursday, led by Bitcoin’s (BTC) climb above $70,000. Ethereum (ETH) remains bullish, trading above $2,200, while Ripple (XRP) has recovered above $1.15 as bulls tighten their grip.

US Treasury doubles long-dated bond buybacks: Why are yields rising again?

US Treasury yields stabilize on Thursday after Wednesday’s sharp decline, with the 10-year yield edging back up to 4.672%. The US Treasury doubled the size of some long-dated debt buybacks, a surprise decision that helped ease the recent surge in yields.

$20 billion offered, $2 billion taken: Why Treasury doubled its buyback cap

The US Treasury moved off its own calendar on Wednesday, and that is the part worth sitting with. At 12:32 GMT, the department said it would at least double the size of liquidity support buyback operations in the 10-year to 20-year and 20-year to 30-year sectors, lifting the maximum from $2 billion per operation to at least $4 billion, effective September 9 and running to November 4.