Oil price news: Oil edges up amid technical signals this week’s drop is overdone
BNN Bloomberg
Oil inched up as technical gauges signaled that crude’s plunge to a three-month low on Wednesday was overdone.
West Texas Intermediate rose 0.5 per cent to settle just below US$76 a barrel after a $5 slump in the last two sessions pushed futures into oversold territory on their relative strength index. Prices gained early in the session after a U.S. jobless claims report indicated a cooling labour market that could prompt the U.S. Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy.
The advance faded in the afternoon after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank won’t hesitate to tighten policy further if appropriate.
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister on Thursday said oil consumption remains healthy and blamed speculators for the recent drop in prices. Earlier this year, the kingdom also criticized crude traders for pushing down prices and warned those who shorted oil to “watch out.” Markets interpreted the warning as a signal that the production cartel leader would consider another output cut, which it eventually did.
