Crude oil prices are gaining further ground at the beginning of the week, now lifting the West Texas Intermediate to the $54.60 area per barrel, or daily highs.
WTI attention to US data
The softer tone in the greenback is allowing prices for the WTI to start the week on a firm note and leave behind Friday’s pullback. In fact, the US Dollar Index has broken below the critical 101.00 support today, encouraging USD-denominated assets to advance further.
Crude prices remain under pressure nonetheless, as traders keep weighing the compliance with the OPEC output-cuts deal against rising production in the US, as shown by the increasing drilling activity in recent weeks. In fact, according to the latest report by driller Baker Hughes, US oil rig count has increased by 5 to 602 during last week.
Recent build in US oil supplies, as per reports by the API and the EIA, have been also adding extra pressure to the black gold, somewhat limiting the upside to levels above the $54.00 mark, leaving the barrel of WTI to gravitate within familiar ranges.
Supporting the upside momentum in WTI, speculative net longs in crude oil have reached record levels above 556K contracts during the week ended on February 21, as per the latest CFTC report.
Ahead in the week, the buck should take centre stage in light of the much-awaited speech by President Donald Trump before Congress and Friday’s speech by Chief Janet Yellen on Economic Outlook.
WTI levels to consider
At the moment the barrel of WTI is gaining 0.78% at $54.41 and a surpass of $54.94 (high Feb.23) would open the door to $55.24 (2017 high Jan.3) and finally $56.79 (high Jul.6 2015). On the other hand, the next support aligns at $53.76 (low Feb.24) followed by $53.45 (20-day sma) and then $52.96 (55-day sma).
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