Crude Oil Futures Hit a 1-Week High

WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil (RYE) (USO) (USL) futures contracts for August delivery rose 1.9% and closed at $44.24 per barrel on June 27, 2017. Prices rose for the fourth consecutive day. They rose 4% in the last four sessions. Brent crude oil futures for August delivery rose 1.8% and closed at $46.65 per barrel on June 27, 2017.

Crude oil prices hit one-week high due to the following:

• There were short covering and technical buying.
• The US dollar (UUP) hit a seven-month low on June 27, 2017.
• US crude oil inventories are expected to fall for the third straight week.
• The S&P 500 (SPY) (SPX-INDEX) is near a record. It hit 2,453.5 on June 19, 2017—the highest level ever. Bullish momentum in SPY could support the energy market.

Higher crude oil prices have a positive impact on oil and gas exploration and production companies’ earnings like Denbury Resources (DNR), Chevron (CVX), and QEP Resources (QEP). Read Is It the Beginning of Bottom Fishing for Crude Oil? for more on bullish crude oil drivers.

So far, Brent and the US crude oil futures have fallen 20.7% and 22.5% in 2017. It seems like crude oil prices have ignored OPEC’s meeting. Read Will US Crude Oil Prices Recover from 10-Month Lows? and Dennis Gartman: Is the Pain Done for Crude Oil Futures? for more on bearish drivers.

Vitol, a global energy and commodity trading company, expects that Brent crude oil prices could trade between $40 and $55 per barrel in the next few quarters. For more on the crude oil price forecast, read Hedge Funds’ Net Long Bullish Positions Hit a 10-Month Low.

Next, we’ll look at crude oil drivers and WTI crude oil prices in early morning trade.