January NYMEX WTI prices are trading marginally higher Wednesday after falling back sharply during the previous session. January WTI futures ended Tuesday’s session down $2.53 at $86.75 a barrel as prices became pressured amid a round of profit-taking on talk of an Israel/Gaza ceasefire, although any concrete hopes of a truce have yet to be reached. Fresh concerns about Europe’s economy also weighed on oil prices after eurozone finance ministers ended a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday without agreement on the next tranche of loans to Greece. In terms of supply, focus now turns to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) report due to be published at 1530GMT, with analysts polled by Platts forecasting a 1mln barrel increase in crude stocks. January WTI prices have pared back so far this morning after initially trading an intra-day high of $87.40 a barrel. Since then, WTI futures have printed a session low of $86.65 before edging back higher to now trade at $86.95 a barrel, up 20 cents on the session.
EasyForexNews Research Team