Oil higher, gold’s wild ride

Oil rises as demand expected to increase

After digesting a larger-than-expected inflation report, crude prices pushed higher despite a stronger dollar as expectations grow that global crude demand recovery will be very strong in the second half of the year.

The weekly EIA crude oil inventory report showed a smaller-than-expected draw with some of the data impacted by the Colonial Pipeline cyber-attack.  Exports suffered the worst decline on record, while crude imports were mostly steady.  Crude production rose 100,000 bpd, but still remains capped by the 11-million mark and that seems to be a key level if untouched that will keep OPEC+ happy.

Jet fuel demand continues to improve, reaching a five-week and that seems poised to get better as Americans get the travel bug.  Gasoline demand dipped to 8.8 million bpd, while exports rose to a 1.5 year high on Mexican demand.

The path for crude prices appears to be higher but until the situation improves in India, WTI will probably struggle to break above the early March high.

Gold/FX

Gold went on a rollercoaster ride after the US economy had its largest 12-month increase with consumer prices since the summer of 2008.  The knee-jerk reaction saw the hot inflation print take Treasury yields higher and sent gold sharply lower.  Gold prices quickly recovered all of its losses as investors anticipated one inflation report won’t change the Fed’s ultra-accommodative stance anytime soon.

Gold’s rebound was short-lived after the bond market selloff extended, as the 10-year Treasury yield pushed above the key 1.68% level.  Real yields also look to have formed a bottom and that will likely be a headwind for gold.

Adding to gold’s struggles was the dollar, which was due for a comeback.  The rebound in the dollar will likely prove temporary if Treasury yields find a range and slowly grind higher.  King dollar will enjoy the move in Treasury yields, but that might only be for a short period of time.  This inflation report will unlikely trigger a capitulation of the recent bearish bets against the greenback.

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Ed Moya

Ed Moya

Contributing Author at OANDA
With more than 20 years’ trading experience, Ed Moya was a Senior Market Analyst with OANDA for the Americas from November 2018 to November 2023. His particular expertise lies across a wide range of asset classes including FX, commodities, fixed income, stocks and cryptocurrencies. Over the course of his career, Ed has worked with some of the leading forex brokerages, research teams and news departments on Wall Street including Global Forex Trading, FX Solutions and Trading Advantage. Prior to OANDA he worked with TradeTheNews.com, where he provided market analysis on economic data and corporate news. Based in New York, Ed is a regular guest on several major financial television networks including CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Yahoo! Finance Live, Fox Business, cheddar news, and CoinDesk TV. His views are trusted by the world’s most respected global newswires including Reuters, Bloomberg and the Associated Press, and he is regularly quoted in leading publications such as MSN, MarketWatch, Forbes, Seeking Alpha, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Ed holds a BA in Economics from Rutgers University.