Chart Of The Day: Crude Oil Just Established A Technical Downtrend

 | Aug 10, 2021 15:42

After Monday's 2.6% tumble, crude oil appears to have found its footing today.

There were a pair of catalysts for yesterday's selloff: (1) increased social restrictions in China, the world's largest oil importer, after additional, new cases of the Delta variant emerged, and (2) the outlook for the Fed’s step back from unpreceded stimulus. 

The second factor is currently boosting the dollar, which is used to establish oil's base price. A stronger greenback makes WTI more expensive for foreign markets, based on the USD exchange rate.

Since today's rebound in oil prices wasn't triggered by any specific news event, presumably it's the product of short covering to take profits as well as buying on the dip. As such, we’re betting that oil’s advance will be short-lived...something that's also being signaled on the technical chart.