April crude oil was unable to trade below Monday’s low (36.09) on Wednesday. It made its low during the overnight session at 36.24 and never looked back. Crude is trading more on headlines rather than fundamentals and news that Iran and Iraq agreed to “pursue coordination” in the oil market put a floor on the price action. There were also reports of a second round of ballistic missile tests by Iran and there is a supply outage in Nigeria of around 300,000 barrels per day. You also have the ECB meeting tomorrow and the market is hoping for a dramatic increase in stimulus from Mario Draghi. The EIA report showed Oil Inventories rose 3.88 million barrels last week, with Cushing increasing by 690,000 barrels. US production also rose for the 1st time in 7 weeks.
The market however focused on gasoline inventories. Gasoline Inventories fell 4.53 million barrels, the largest in a year. Traders seemed to think that demand is strong and with more stimulus coming it will cut down on the oversupply in the market. Don’t forget, this is the time of year when refineries switch to summer blends and it is normal to see gasoline declines. Crude was able to make another new high completely reversing yesterdays reversal trading to 38.51 and settling near the highs at 38.29. Crude drifted after settlement and ended the day at 38.18.
High – 38.51
Low - 36.24
Last - 38.18
Daily Pivots for 3/10/16:
R2 39.22
R1 37.77
PIVOT 36.95
S1 35.50
S2 34.68