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COMMODITIES: WTI Crude Futures Extend Selloff to Near Seven Month Lows

COMMODITIES
  • WTI crude oil looks set to close at its lowest level since January despite a report showing U.S. inventories fell last week. The focus remains on weak China demand and easing international tensions amid hopes of a Gaza ceasefire deal and no retaliatory strike by Iran so far. 
  • The latest move down undermines a recent bullish theme and this has exposed key support at $71.67, the Aug 5 low and the bear trigger. A break would resume the downtrend that started Apr 12.
  • For natural gas, Henry Hub is losing ground today although remains in the $2.1/mmbtu and $2.3/mmbtu range seen since Aug. 9. Although temperatures are rising in the coming days, there are expectations that cooling demand will begin to abate which will weigh on gas-fired power.
  • In precious metals, Gold is broadly unchanged on the session and technical conditions remain bullish for the yellow metal after delivering an all-time high on Tuesday. The recent breach of resistance at $2483.7, the Jul 17 high, confirmed a resumption of the primary uptrend. Note that moving average studies remain in a bull-mode set-up and this continues to highlight a dominant uptrend. The focus is on a climb towards $2536.4 next, a Fibonacci projection.
  • Iron ore rose for a third day - recovering more of its 9% plunge last week - on signs Chinese authorities will take more steps to try and revive the country’s waning property market. Copper futures also rose 1%, hovering just below the early August highs.

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