Crude oil traded around $77 a barrel in the European trading session and rose by about 0.3% while the market was pressured on the week with economic concerns, higher interest rates and weakening energy demand.

• The US Fed is about to hike another 25 bps in May and Fed officials are pointing to a terminal rate of 5.50% to fight inflation off the cards.
• The ECB will be expected to increase interest rates for two more rounds for this Year which might support the euro while giving commodities a selling factor.
• The US economic structure seems to slow down due to the higher interest rates, according to the Fed report, pressures the demand of oil and the price.
• Investors hope for a pullback in Chinese demand to support the price and are cautious about the OPEC+ reduction output set for next month.
• The API and EIA reported lower inventories of oil which might be supportive for the oil price.

Technically the market fell for about six consecutive days in the row and is bearish imbalanced due to the lower dollar which will have a mixed reaction towards the US price of oil, due to the fact that the US changed its role towards a net exporter of oil, hence a higher trade in oil might be supportive for the dollar and a higher dollar might add more value to the oil price.

1 WEEK AGO

The Year’s developing value might be supportive and the prior b-shaped profiled structure supports the market for the moment. The price briefly traded below the prior price range while auction back and may target the upper value extreme with current resistance at the prior VWAP close level. 

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