Oil
Crude prices tentatively breached the USD 100 level after the Bank of America fund manager survey showed global growth optimism was at an all-time low. Earlier in London, oil was declining after reports Congo was looking to bolster up its oil sector by offering 30 oil and gas exploration blocks for licensing.
The oil market is swinging all over the place as the volatility with the global crude demand outlook has been head-spinning. Crude prices pared losses after reports that Chinese demand for Saudi oil was improving. The oil market is still very tight but energy traders are unconvinced how the demand outlook will hold up over the next few months.
The US dollar has been declining over the past few days and that has been welcome news for oil, but another major move for the greenback might not happen until we see what happens with the Nord Stream 1 pipeline restart and the ECB policy decision.
WTI crude seems poised to seesaw around the USD 100 a barrel level.
Gold
Gold prices continue to hover above the USD 1700 level despite a weakening US dollar. After three days of dollar weakness, gold still can’t make a meaningful move higher, which means sellers are still in control. Gold needs China’s outlook to improve before it can muster up a meaningful rally and that might take time. Too much uncertainty remains with China’s COVID situation, rising property risks, and lack of urgency from the PBOC to ease.