Crude oil futures are settling at $72.68. That represents a gain of $0.66 or 0.92%. The high-priced extended to $75.25. The low price reached $72.36. The sharp rise to the upside was spurred on by the US and UK bombing of Houthi rebel in Yemen.
The price rises did extend above the January 5 high (high for the new year) at $74.15, but reversed lower and ended up using that level as resistance when rebroken to the downside (see chart above).
The low price did find support buyers near the 100/200 hour MAs centered near $72.30 currently (blue and green lines on the chart below). That level will be a key barometer going forward. Bullish above. Bearish below.
This week, the US inventory showed that bigger than expected builds on Wednesday. Crude oil inventories showed a build of 1.338 million barrels versus a drawdown of -0.675 million estimate. Gasoline and distillates were also much stronger-than-expected. Gasoline inventories shown at buildup 8.0299 versus 2.489 million estimate. Distilates showed a build of 6.528 million versus estimates of 2.382 million.
The Geopolitical risk from the Red Sea blockades from Houthi rebels pulled prices the other way.
For the week, the price is down -1.57%. after rising 3.0% last week and falling -2.6% the week before that. The price action is up and down and up and down.
This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com. Source