Oil climbs above $56
Oil cheered the weekly US inventory data in a rebound after a sharp drop yesterday.
Crude touched a low today of $54.76 but was trading nearly a dollar higher just before the data. The market was braced for a large build in supplies after the American Petroleum Institute announced a nearly 6 million rise in inventories late yesterday.
Instead, official stockpiles climbed 1.379 million barrels. That set off a further 75-cent rally in oil to $56.52. The jump goes a long way towards erasing yesterday's decline, which was the worst since Sept 30.
In the bigger picture, yesterday's breakdown is still dominant but this undoubtedly clouds the picture. The rebound today keeps a series of higher lows intact and if there's a fresh push it could challenge $58 again.
Fundamentally, it's all about China-US talks and the Dec 5 OPEC meeting.