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Assemblies took place in the energy complex last week after demand for crude oil and natural gas raised concerns, while gold traders remained under pressure while continuing to badess the impact of policy changes. from the Fed following announcements last week. The weakness of crude oil is not a major concern as supply is tightening. However, with the start of the injection season, the natural gas bulls may have fired their last shot early last week. In gold, the story is bullish – Treasuries lower, dollar weaker. This may have prompted professional buyers to re-enter the market over the long term after liquidating their positions over the past three weeks.
Crude oil
Western crude, Texas Intermediate and international benchmark crude oil futures were able to make a slight gain last week, but Friday's price action suggests that it is still possible to experience downward pressure. Markets have managed to break a key technical level by reaching their highest level in four months, mainly as a result of OPEC's supply cuts and the extension of the plan to reduce production, to reduce global supply and stabilize prices. However, these gains were erased when demand concerns came to the fore on Friday.
Although buyers reached a new multi-year high, WTI and Brent crude oil fell three out of five sessions. This suggests that sales may become stronger or purchases will be lower.
Basically, traders have been trapped by the demand for worries over the slowdown in the US and global economies. The Fed contributed to domestic demand concerns by reducing its growth forecasts and suggesting that the economy was not strong enough to support a further rate hike this year.
Concerns about demand were also raised when reports showed that manufacturers in Europe, Japan and the United States had suffered in March, as investigations showed that trade tensions had affected production. manufacturing.
WTI crude oil closed the week at $ 59.04, up $ 0.22 or + 0.37%.
Natural gas
After peaking earlier this week, which failed to attract enough speculative buyers to continue its momentum, natural gas futures exploded as traders began trading. to anticipate a weak demand in the short term. NatGasWeather said, "A warm break is still expected in the Great Lakes and in the East" late in the coming week and in the weekend. Here, the data has been "moderate, with peaks of 60 to nearly 70 degrees, causing a decline in domestic demand from normal."
NatGasWeather added, "It remains active in the western and central United States with areas of showers, but relatively mild with peaks ranging from 40 to 60 years. The southern United States will be unusually comfortable in the near future with peaks of the 60s to 80s, with very little demand. "
Natural gas in May settled the week at $ 2,767, down $ 0.035 or -1.25%.
Gold
Gold ended up higher last week, but the response to Federal Reserve dovish monetary policy decisions was weak. Gold also showed a disappointing response to weak euro area economic data on Friday that exacerbated fears of a global slowdown. The price action does not suggest that sellers are preventing the market from recovering, but it could indicate the lack of buyers.
In the middle of the week, gold received momentum after the Fed abruptly ended its tightening monetary policy, abandoning any interest rate hike this year. A Friday, gold was launched after economic studies showed that business in the euro area had recorded a performance well below that of March, the factories activity has contracted at its fastest pace since almost six years, penalized by a sharp drop in demand.
After weeks of liquidation, professional fund managers may have begun to return to the long side of the gold market. According to the latest government data, gold speculators lifted their bullish bets after three weeks of decline.
For the week, the June Comex gold finished at $ 1318.70, up $ 9.80 or + 0.75%.
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