Oil stalls ahead of August lows
Oil tried to stage a bounce from minor trendline support today but the effort fell flat and WTI is now just above the lows of the week.
The big event coming up on the calendar is the November 4 scheduled start date for US sanctions on Iran. That missing oil is likely already factored but what could be weighing is an extra-long refinery maintenance season, which is driving up inventories.
I think the technicals are going to tell the story here. That minor uptrend isn't critical but the August and (especially) June lows are. Seasonally, we remain in a negative period into year end. Oil with a 50-handle would certainly catch a lot people offside.
