Since the end of February, Brent crude oil has continued to grow smoothly within the current price channel. It has had a similar structure to the price channel, which had guided the market from mid-January to mid-February. More locally, oil continues to be traded in a wide range of $66.6-68.2 per barrel.
On Wednesday quotes fell from the upper limit of the trading range ($68.2) to $67.2 after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) report was published. US crude oil inventories rose by 2.8 million barrels last week, while analysts had expected a decline of 1.2 million barrels.
The support level at $66.6 looks unusually strong and it is possible that the asset will test it again in the nearest future. Last time it occurred on Thursday in the backdrop of a new tweet by US President D. Trump. Here is what he wrote in the messenger:
“Very important that OPEC increase the flow of Oil. World Markets are fragile, price of Oil getting too high. Thank you! ”
However, in the end, traders ignored the president’s message and the price of black gold had recovered by the time the day’s session closed. Last time, a similar tweet caused the price to drop by 3%!
Summarizing the first results of the year, it can be said that the first quarter of 2019 was a turning point. The price of Brent rose by 27%, while the cost of WTI jumped at 31%. This is record growth since the second quarter of 2009, when the oil market gained back the decline from the previous year’s powerful downtrend.