WTI returns above $ 80, but taking a breather after recent price swings

• Oil has risen above $ 80 again, but trading has been calmer on Friday.
• Traders await a response from the United States after OPEC + ignored calls for a further increase in production.

After significant volatility in recent days, US oil prices are enjoying calmer trading on the last day of the week, having ignored the robust US labor market report released earlier in the session as traders await the US government’s response to OPEC + , who ignored his calls. to increase production by more than 400,000 barrels per day in December. The American benchmark for light sweet crude, called West Texas Intermediary or WTI, which had been trading within a relatively tight range of $ 79.00-$ 80.00 for most of the session, recently broke above $ 80.00 a barrel again.

To recap recent volatility; Prices fell from around $ 83.00 to $ 80.00 on Wednesday as a result of bearish inventory data and concerns about a Covid-19 outbreak in China, and in doing so broke below a long-term uptrend. Early in Thursday’s session, prices staged a notable recovery, rising to the mid-range of $ 83.50, before retreating sharply despite news of the OPEC + deal (as expected) and falling to $ 78.50. Traders mentioned profit-taking now that OPEC + was out of the way, concerns that the US could release crude oil reserves in response to OPEC + and technical selling, with prices that have again tested the old long-term uptrend thus offering an opportunity for sellers to add to their positions.

Technical levels