Oil edged lower after capping the longest run of gains in two years, with one technical indicator signaling the rally may be overdone.
Futures in New York have surged more than 12% over the past eight sessions as oil stages a robust recovery from the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic amid a tightening market. The rapid gain has driven prices to the highest level in a year, but also pushed crude’s 14-day Relative Strength Index firmly into overbought territory, signaling a correction is due.
Despite the rally pausing, the outlook remains positive. U.S. crude stockpiles declined more than forecast last week, while Citigroup Inc. predicted the global benchmark Brent will reach $70 a barrel by the end of the year. Markets will also be looking to see how the U.S.-China relationship progresses after the first call between President Joe Biden and his counterpart Xi Jinping.
Oil’s rebound accelerated after Saudi Arabia pledged to deepen output cuts and as prompt timespreads firmed in a bullish backwardation structure, helping to unwind global stockpiles built up during the outbreak. There are still concerns that the virus may curb near-term fuel demand, with China’s air traffic falling sharply ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday after a resurgence in some areas.
“A correction was long overdue,” said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at Oanda Asia Pacific. “The risks are that oil has a technical pullback and that could see oil drop as much as 5% before we return to business as normal.”
U.S. crude stockpiles declined by 6.65 million barrels last week, data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration showed. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey had estimated inventories would drop by 800,000 barrels. Gasoline supplies, however, rose for a third week.
Citigroup also forecast U.S. crude would climb to $68 a barrel by the end of the year as inventories drain and demand strengthens. JPMorgan Chase & Co. called a new supercycle for commodities, while independent trader Vitol Group said oil prices now had all the right elements to push higher, despite saying Sunday that the market had got ahead of itself.
In his first conversation as president with the Chinese leader, Biden spoke of his concern about China’s “coercive and unfair economic practices” as well as human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region. Biden, in a tweet after the call, said he told Xi “I will work with China when it benefits the American people.”
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