WTI extends recovery from 23.6% Fibo. amid oil-positive headlines/data

• WTI repeatedly bounces off 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the late-2018 downpour.
• China trade balance and headlines from the Middle East support the upside momentum.
• Mild risk-on also favors the price upswing.

Having slumped to nearly seven-month low during Wednesday, WTI takes a U-turn from medium-term key technical level while trading near $52.65 ahead of Thursday’s European session.

Higher than expected prints of the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) weekly US Crude Oil Stocks and deterioration of the US-China trade stalemate, after the dragon nation’s another drag to the Yuan fix, seem to have triggered the previous day's decline by the black gold.

On early Thursday, Bloomberg came out with the report saying that Saudi Arabia is secretly preparing to avoid further declines of the energy prices whereas headlines from Venezuela and Iran indicated an increase in geopolitical tensions emanating from the Middle East.

Also supporting the rise could be the improvement in the market’s risk sentiment, as portrayed by the upswing in major yields, and better than forecast July month trade balance data from China.

Investors will now keep following trade/political headlines concerning the US, UK, China and the Middle East in order to portray near-term price direction.

Technical Analysis

In addition to 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level around $50.50, the $50.00 round-figure can also be considered as the key support, a break of which might not refrain from calling $48.00 back to the chart. Alternatively, $55.00 and 50-day moving average (DMA) near $56.00 could restrict near-term upside of the oil benchmark.