Today's crude oil prices are affected by oil demand in China

Today's crude oil price, WTI approached the $77.80-90 level during Thursday morning, following a two-day uptrend that reached the highest level in two weeks. Today's forex news information we summarize from a trusted site, fxstreet.com.

 The black gold’s latest struggles are attributed to mixed signals surrounding China, and oil stocks. However, sour sentiment and a rebound in the US dollar seem to be the major upside hurdles for the prices. That said, higher-than-expected US inventories have also weighed on the energy benchmark as the weekly data from the US EIA signaled a 1.165 million increase in crude stocks against 0.457 million expected and 7.648 million prior. Elsewhere, Joe Biden’s readiness to continue pumping the market with SPR, and lack of supply for oil in Russia also exerted downward pressure on the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices. On the same lines, there are headlines coming from the New York Times that suggest a possible rift between the US and China at the key event. The news report states that China is pushing for peace talks, and some of the Summit 20 nations may support the idea when they gather in the host country for the next summit in India. However, US officials are of the opinion that Russia will not negotiate in good faith. It is worth noting that however, the recent pick-up in Chinese activity and upbeat comments from Chinese policymakers have kept black gold buyers on edge. Recently, China’s Human Resources Minister said that employment in China has continued to pick up this year, remaining stable overall. Chinese Finance Minister Liu He indicated his readiness to increase the country’s fiscal spending while also mentioning that the resilience of China’s economic recovery is yet to stabilize. That said, hawkish comments from US Fed, BoE and EC policymakers highlighted the need for continued interest rate hikes to combat inflation, which in turn exerted downside pressure on oil prices. Amidst these plays, the US 10-year Treasury yield surged to its highest level since early November 2022 by breaching 4.0%. While its 2-year counterpart rallied to its highest level since June 2007 by showing 4.91%. The surge in US Treasury yields reflected market fears which in turn boosted Wall Street and weighed on the S&P 500, and the recent rally in WTI oil prices. As a result, the S&P 500 fell 1.5% at press time even as Wall Street benchmarks closed with mixed data. Ahead, updates from the G20 could join comments from central banks and a second flash data release from the US to entertain oil traders.

Technical Analysis of Crude Oil Prices Today

WTI crude oil buyers need to clear a five-week-old resistance line around $78.70 as of press time to curb the bearish movement.