December 24, 2024 04:50 GMT
OIL: Oil Drifts Higher into the Holidays.
OIL
- Oil had an up and down day initially, falling in the US session only to rally back into the close to finish in line with where it started the day.
- Opening at US$69.24, on very low volumes oil inched higher to be at $69.53 in afternoon trading.
- Supply issues and the potential excess in 2025 are never far away from traders’ minds as news of Russian oil flows via Belarus came out.
- Brent had opened at US$72.63 and on very light volumes edged higher to $72.96.
- As investors ponder 2025 it appears that a key indicator for Oil’s fortunes in the context of supply will be the success of the Chinese authorities in stabilizing the growth outlook for the domestic economy.
- Today will likely see the Medium-Term Lending Rate and Volume data and whilst no rate cut is expected, the emphasis for the release will be on the volume of uptake as an indicator for activity.
- Equally in the US, oil will be watching closely for indicators from monetary policy and its impact on the dollar.
- Despite the concerns about supply, Hedge Funds have turned bullish on oil with net long positions the most in 1 year.
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