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In trading on Thursday (17), crude oil futures prices rose for the fourth day in a row as the US Congress passed another round of economic relief plans, which showed signs of progress, helping crude oil prices maintained their highs for more than 9 months.
Edward Moya, Senior Market Analyst at Oanda, said: “After the vaccine started coming out, crude oil has continued to rise in recent weeks, oil inventories have started to decline, Asian demand remains strong and Falling US dollar has further increased the overall attractiveness of commodities.
“If Congress can complete the pandemic aid case this week, it may be the final catalyst needed for WTI crude oil prices to hit the $ 50 level.”
- The price of WTI crude oil futures for January delivery rose 54 cents, or nearly 1.1%, to close at $ 48.36 a barrel, the highest closing price since February 26 for the contract price. of the previous month.
- The price of Brent crude oil futures for February delivery rose 42 cents, or 0.8%, to $ 51.50 a barrel, the highest closing price since March 3.
Stephen Innes, Axi’s chief global market strategist, mentioned in a report that “market sentiment has washed away the monthly reports from OPEC, EIA and IEA that were somewhat bearish this week.”
“While all signs are clearly pointing to a gradual recovery in demand throughout 2021, I am still concerned that there will be a red flag warning of lockdown, if the price overreacts to the bullish component of the vaccine and if the bulls high can withstand any short-term resistance. “
Crude oil on Wednesday was boosted by the EIA inventory report, which indicated that US crude oil inventories fell 3.1 million barrels in the week ending December 11, which was higher than expected.
At the same time, the United States Congress indicated that it would reach an economic relief agreement close to 900 billion dollars, which will include expanding unemployment benefits, providing assistance to small businesses and, once again, writing checks to Americans who have a hard time finding work.
The Wall Street Journal cited data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. On Wednesday, the number of newly diagnosed patients in the United States set a new record of 247,000. On Wednesday, US hospitals admitted a total of 11.30.9 million new coronary patients. Second, the number increased to 112,816 and the number of hospitalizations set a record for 11 consecutive days.
The advisory panel is expected to recommend Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approve the new coronavirus vaccine developed by Moderna (MRNA-US) If so, this will be the second vaccine approved by the FDA. . The first is the new corona vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer (PFE-US) and BioNTech SE (BNTX-US) and launched this week.
“The only problem that will hamper the rise in oil prices is that there are problems after the new crown vaccine is administered,” Moya said.
“Transportation disputes and some delays in public vaccination may raise questions about whether we can really come back to life before the outbreak of the new corona vaccine.”
Other energy raw materials
- The price of gasoline futures for January delivery rose 2.6% to close at $ 1.3881 a gallon.
- The price of hot fuel oil futures for January delivery rose 1.2% to settle at $ 1.4952 a gallon.
- The price of natural gas futures for January delivery fell 1.5% to close at US $ 2,636 per million Btu.
The EIA announced Thursday that domestic natural gas supply was reduced by 122 billion cubic feet last week (as of Dec. 11). According to a survey by S&P Global Platts., Analysts expect, on average, natural gas supply to drop 127 billion cubic feet during the week.
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