WTI bounces off lows near $52.60, EIA on sight

Crude oil prices are navigating the lower bound of the weekly range so far today, taking the barrel of West Texas Intermediate to the $52.80 region.

WTI lower ahead of EIA report, ADP

The rising momentum around the greenback continues to weigh on the sentiment around crude oil prices today, prompting the barrel of WTI to extend its consolidative theme above the critical $50.00 mark prevailing since the start of the year.

Furthermore, traders continue to gauge the prospects of increasing US oil production against the planned output cut from the OPEC/non-OPEC deal, all against the backdrop of rising US drilling activity as per the latest reports by Baker Hughes.

Adding to today’s weakness, the API reported late on Tuesday that US crude oil stockpiles rose by more than 11.5 million barrels during last week, prompting traders to stay wary ahead of today’s weekly report by the DoE (+1.5 mb prev.).

WTI levels to consider

At the moment the barrel of WTI is retreating 0.56% at $52.84 and a breach of $52.76 (low Mar.6) would aim for $52.54 (low Mar.2) and then $51.22 (low Feb.8). On the upside, the next resistance lines up at $53.13 (20-day sma) followed by $54.23 (high Feb.28) and finally $54.61 (high Feb.27).