West Texas Intermediate fell for the third time in four days before a government report forecast to show U.S. crude stockpiles expanded and amid concern consumption in China may falter.
Futures in New York dropped as much as 1.5 percent as prices approached a technical level that signals gains may have been excessive. U.S. crude inventories increased for a sixth week to 363.6 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts before Energy Information Administration data tomorrow. Equities in China, the world’s second-largest oil user, plunged the most since July on speculation a weaker property market will crimp growth.
“Prices have rallied further than perhaps the underlying supply-demand fundamentals would suggest,” said Hakan Kocayusufpasaoglu, chief investment officer at Archbridge Capital AG, a Zug, Switzerland-based hedge fund. “Demand growth is not phenomenally strong, and emerging markets, which have been the main driver of growth, are slowing down.”
WTI for April delivery slid as much as $1.49 to $101.33 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $101.54 as of 1:27 p.m. London time. The contract rose 0.6 percent to $102.82 yesterday, the highest close since Feb. 20. The volume of all futures traded was about 52 percent above the 100-day average.
via Bloomberg
Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.
Alfonso Esparza
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Latest posts by Alfonso Esparza (see all)
- Market Rally Still Going Low Holiday Volumes Awaiting Start of 2020 - 27 December 2019
- Market Awaits China Retaliation on Trade - 29 November 2019
- Alibaba to Close Order Book Ahead of Huge IPO - 18 November 2019