The United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO), which tracks West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, is up more than 15% in just the past five trading sessions as several major oil-producing nations have pledged to pare output.
That helps buoy the near-term fundamental case for crude, but oil’s charts indicate the commodity may have more room to run to the upside.
Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela have been in discussions to hold output steady at January levels, but only if other producers followed suit. There is also talk that Iraq, also a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), could pare production.
However, the rebounding oil may not last. Zanganeh has not explicitly stated that Iran would keep its output at January levels. Iran had planned to increase output by at least 500,000 a day this year after the lifting of Western sanctions last month, CNBC reports.
“With its familiar ‘W’ shape, the pattern does not signal anything until the center peak is broken to the upside. But that does not mean we should ignore it, especially as momentum indicators show bullish divergences with price action by setting higher lows. That indicates that downside momentum has slowed as bears have lost just a little interest in pushing their agendas,” reports Michael Kahn for Barron’s.