Brent and WTI crude oil both lagged the momentum seen across metals and agriculture, and despite increased calls for +70 dollar Brent, the market has sensibly adopted a wait-and-see approach. Before drifting lower, Brent got tantalizing close to $70/b, a level it briefly breached two months ago before suffering a 15% correction. The market, already supported by investment demand, has also increasingly been focused on reopening’s in Europe and the U.S. driving a strong recovery in fuel demand.
Oil bulls, however, may have to remain patient given ongoing production increases from OPEC+, the prospect for a renewed Iran nuclear deal leading to increased production, and not least the current risk to demand in parts of virus-hit Asia. Since late March, Brent crude oil has traded within a four dollar wide uptrend, currently between $66.50 and $70.50.
Precious metals: Having failed on a handful occasions during the past couple of weeks, gold finally managed to mount an attack strong enough to take it above $1800. While lower U.S. real yields and a softer dollar provided the fundamental tailwind the yellow metal needed support from in-demand silver, one of the best performing commodities this week. During the past month, the continued rally across industrial metals have supported silver relatively more than gold. This can be seen through the gold-silver ratio which has been declining since late March.
Silver is currently trading within a rising channel and after hitting the upper end at $27.55 it may need to spend some time consolidating before mounting a fresh upside attempt towards the 2021 high at $30. In order for gold to continue higher, it first needs to establish support above $1795 before chasing after long-term trend following short positions. The next level of upside interest is $1851, the 200-day moving average and 61.8% retracement of the January to March sell-off.