WTI regains the $50.00 handle ahead of EIA

Crude oil prices have retaken the positive territory today, sending the barrel of West Texas Intermediate back above the $50.00 neighbourhood.

WTI now looks to EIA

Prices for the WTI are reverting two sessions with losses so far today, managing to revert the earlier drop to the $49.60 area.

The strong tone from the greenback has been weighing on crude oil prices in recent sessions, prompting the WTI to abandon the area of 2016 tops above $51.60 seen on Monday.

In addition, the latest OPEC monthly report showed on Wednesday the cartel’s output rose more than 33 million barrels per day during September – or 8 year highs - somewhat mitigating the optimism around a potential output freeze that should be confirmed at the next meeting in Vienna later in November.

In the same line and collaborating with the downside, the API’s weekly report released late on Wednesday showed stockpiles rose by 3.7 million barrels during last week, the largest build up in the last six months.

Looking ahead, the EIA’s weekly report on crude oil inventories is due later ahead of tomorrow’s Baker Hughes report on US drilling activity.

WTI levels to consider

At the moment the barrel of WTI is up 0.18% at $50.26 and a breakout of $51.67 (2016 high Jun.6) would aim for $53.89 (high Jul.10). On the flip side, the next support lines up at $47.49 (20-day sma) followed by $45.81 (55-day sma) and finally $42.55 (low Sep.20).