Believe it or not, crude oil is actually up for the fifth consecutive day now. Despite on-going bearish news flow and downbeat sentiment, oil prices appear stable ahead of the official US weekly crude inventories data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) later this afternoon.
Both oil contracts have bounced back a little after Thursday’s sharp plunge. The all-time high crude stockpile levels in the US is the number one reason behind oil’s inability to move further higher in recent weeks.
The longer term recovery for oil which peaked in the $52 per barrel area last month, is now reversing once more and picking up bearish momentum ahead of the weekly oil inventories due for release later today, as both the technical and fundamental picture help to drive prices lower once again.
For the USD/JPY, 2014 could best be described in football terms as a game of two halves, when viewed from almost every perspective, and perhaps the most descriptive timeframe to consider is the weekly chart for the pair. And in considering the chart, it also highlights the broader issue from a trading perspective of the need to have an array of trading strategies to take advantage of the prevailing market
