Oil in 2nd weekly gain after some profit-taking on heady consumer data
Investing.com — A strong consumer sentiment report — not one that would make the Fed particularly happy — gave the longs in oil an excuse to take some profit Friday on a market that’s run up more than many expected, with a second week of gains.
New York-based West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, crude settled down $1.47, or 1.9%, at $75.42 per barrel, heading for its first loss since the week began. On a weekly basis, the U.S. crude benchmark was up about 2%, extending last week’s 4.6% rally and the prior week’s run-up of 2.1%.
London-based Brent settled down $1.49, or 1.8%, at $79.87, also heading for its first lower close this week after Thursday’s three-month high of $81.42. For the week, Brent was also up about 2% after last week’s 4.8% rally and the prior week’s 1.4% gain.
“Oil is trading relatively flat today but has made tremendous gains over the last couple of weeks and could still add to that over the coming sessions,” said Craig Erlam, analyst at online trading platform OANDA, noting that prices were up 13% from June 28 lows and may have more to rise.
But while the rally was a victory for the Saudis and their oil producing allies in the OPEC+ to break beyond $80 a barrel, Erlam cautioned that Brent could face serious resistance at $83-$84, if it continued rising. “A move lower will draw attention back to $80,” he added.
The July run-up in oil has been fired by various supportive factors, including Saudi and Russian rhetoric about production cuts — an additional one million barrels per day each for the kingdom and half a million a day pledged by Moscow. There has also been receding inflation data this week that suggested the Federal Reserve will be less aggressive with interest rates going forth. That drove the
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