WTI slumps to $55 area on demand concerns, rising US crude oil stocks

EIA reports an increase of 1.6 million barrels in US crude oil stocks.
Disappointing data from China and Germany revive global growth concerns.
WTI retraces a large portion of Tuesday's rebound.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Crude oil prices gained traction after Trump administration announced its decision to delay tariffs on some Chinese imports on Tuesday and the barrel of West Texas Intermediate gained 3.55% to close the day a little below the $57 mark.

Growth fears weigh on WTI

However, following the disappointing retail sales and industrial production data from China and dismal growth data from Germany, concerns over a dismal global economic growth and energy demand outlook weighed on crude oil prices.

The WTI steadily erased Tuesday's gains and met a fresh selling pressure after the weekly data published by the US Energy Information Administration showed that crude oil stocks in the US increased by 1.6 million barrels in the week ending August 9 compared to market expectation for a draw of 2.8 million barrels. At the moment, the WTI is trading at $55, losing 2.8% on a daily basis.

On Tuesday, Kuwait's Oil Minister Khaled al-Fadhel said that Kuwait was fully committed to implementing an agreement between oil-exporting countries to cut production in order to support crude prices. Markets will be looking to see how OPEC+ reacts if demand concerns continue to push prices lower.

Technical levels to watch for

WTI

Overview
Today last price	55.25
Today Daily Change	-1.44
Today Daily Change %	-2.54
Today daily open	56.69

Trends
Daily SMA20	55.62
Daily SMA50	56.11
Daily SMA100	58.97
Daily SMA200	56.23

Levels
Previous Daily High	57.4
Previous Daily Low	54.14
Previous Weekly High	55.53
Previous Weekly Low	50.51
Previous Monthly High	60.99
Previous Monthly Low	54.87
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	56.15
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	55.39
Daily Pivot Point S1	54.75
Daily Pivot Point S2	52.82
Daily Pivot Point S3	51.49
Daily Pivot Point R1	58.01
Daily Pivot Point R2	59.34
Daily Pivot Point R3	61.27

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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