WTI pulls back to $58.35 amid a lack of fresh catalysts

WTI bounces off to $58.35 during early Wednesday. In doing so, the black gold disturbs the previous two-day declines while taking clues from the second-tier news from the Middle East amid a lack of major data/events elsewhere.

The oil benchmark has been bearing the burden of strong US dollar and doubts over the global recovery, as spread through the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest forecast. Also supporting the energy benchmark’s declines were receding odds of the US-Iran war and softening tension in Iraq.

However, Libya’s refrain from respecting the global push, including the United Nations’ Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and US President Donald Trump, to release control of oil exports limit the quote’s downside.

Investors will now look towards the private inventory numbers, namely the weekly reading of the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) US Crude Oil Stock, for fresh direction. The private inventory data marked 1.1M figure during the previous week.

Traders will also take care of the trade/political headlines to determine the near-term direction of oil prices. The US-China trade deal optimism seems to fade after China’s Vice Premier Han Zheng poured cold water on the face of US President Trump’s claim that the deal will get orders worth $100 billion from China.

Technical Analysis

200 and 100-day SMAs limit the black gold’s downside around $57.65 and $ 57.35 respectively. Meanwhile, 21-day SMA near $60.20 caps the oil benchmark’s short-term upside.