Oil halts declines, WTI rebounds to 63.20

• Oil recovers from a decline on a future slowdown in US supply and healthy jobs data from the US.
• Market sentiment is cooling in quiet Monday markets.

Crude oil is declining softly in Asia markets as risk appetite fueled by declining oil rig counts and an upside beat Non-Farm Payrolls last Friday.

Crude oil corrected on Friday following a big beat for US Non-Farm Payrolls that added 313k jobs to the US economy, far over and above the 200k forecast. NFP boosted equities, bond yields, and risk-based assets, however, buried within the jobs report was sluggish wages growth, which crimped USD gains on the positive figures.

A decline in the number of US oil rigs pumping oil is also giving a boost to crude, as a decline in the overall rig count will go a long way towards plugging the oversupply flooding global markets as US production outstrips demand for fossil fuels. The US is on pace to become the world's largest producer of crude oil by 2020, and last week's rig cut marks the first time US energy companies have restricted supply in over two months.

While rig count is a good measure of future oil production, the US is still producing over ten million barrels of oil per day, and if the last year's trend is any indication, the US will be on pace to replace Russia, who outputs eleven million barrels per day, as the world's single largest producer of crude oil.

WTI Crude Technicals

Despite Friday's correction, WTI still faces significant bearish exposure, and with risk appetite evaporating in the early Monday session, crude could be setting up to price in a lower high once again, continuing the decline that began with a vicious selloff in January that took WTI off it's high of 66.63/barrel. Current support is priced in at Friday's floor near 60.15 and Wednesday's swing high of 61.35, with resistance at last week's high of 63.20 and late February's swing high of 64.20.