Abstract:Crude Oil (WTI) - Rebound in the offing?
WTI: The $100 mark should hold the downside
Prices of the WTI retreated sharply and revisited the $101.00 region on Wednesday. The strong downtick was due to shrinking open interest in the futures market, giving the hint that a deeper pullback is not favored in the near term.
The further downside in prices of the commodity should meet tough support around the $100.00 area.
That said, the black gold is on the downtrend for the second consecutive day, down 1.0% around $102.90, amid early European morning on Thursday.Aclear downside break signal of the three-month-old support line, near $101.00 by the press time, appears necessary for the bears.
Oil prices fell sharply this week as traders worried that OPEC+ might decide to pump more oil into the market at its upcoming meeting.
Finally, the day (August 27, 2025) arrived that India did not want. The imposition of 50% tariff by the US administration on most products exported from India. As per the US, the tariff is largely due to India continuing to purchase Russian oil. The extra 25% duty was added over 25% imposed at the beginning of August 2025 as India refused to stop purchasing Russian crude and defence hardware. Check out the sectors that will be hit the hardest with this tariff increase.
The week ahead: Top 5 things to watch
A stronger than expected payroll report last Friday pushed equity markets to another all-time high. The U.S. economy added 850,000 new jobs during June when the consensus expected 700,000. Whilst the headline number looks good, there’s plenty to be worried about under the hood, as the new jobs are mostly in those sectors of the economy that have reopened. For instance, the leisure and hospitality sectors added 343,000 new jobs, education around 269,000, and the retail sector 67,000. These add up to around 80% of the total; this is great at first glance but not in the long run since these sectors do not drive the productivity or wage growth required for sustainable expansion. In particular, the U.S. economy is 70% consumer driven, which emphasizes the importance of a healthy and wealthy labor market. With the country still 7 million jobs short of pre-pandemic levels and most of the recovery happening in low-paying and low-productivity sectors, there is still a long way to go before the