The United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO), which tracks West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, and the United States Brent Oil Fund (NYSEArca: BNO), which tracks Brent crude oil futures, along with rival oil exchange traded products are having a tough time catching breaks in recent weeks.
It seems as though with each new day comes a new opinion from the professional community on oil.
For example, some professional traders do not see the current oil bear market lasting very long. Still, some concerned oil market participants believe oil is rallying without strong fundamental cause. A case can be made that oil’s rally is defying still troubling supply dynamics and tepid demand.
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However, some big banks are not enthusiastic in their current views on oil prices.
“The Wall Street Journal surveyed 13 investment banks on their predictions for Brent prices, and the average result was $56 per barrel for 2017, which was about $1 per barrel lower than the survey the WSJ conducted in June. The investment banks also don’t see oil prices bouncing back to $50 per barrel until the end of this year, which is a dramatic change from last year’s expectation that oil would hit $70 in 2016,” according to OilPrice.com.
[related_stories]On the other hand, recent options market data also reveal that market participants are not gearing up for a long-lasting oil bear market.