Oil Rally Hits Wall, Gold Eyes Record, Ethereum’s Successful Upgrade

 | Apr 14, 2023 01:09AM ET

  • Oil slumps 1%, Delta optimistic on Q2 travel demand
  • Gold less than $20 from record territory
  • Ethereum rallies above $2,000 following Shapella Upgrade
    • h2 Oil/h2

    It looks like the rally in crude prices has finally hit a wall. ​ It was a busy week for energy traders with the EIA short-term energy outlook, Colombia’s global energy summit, the OPEC monthly report, and nationwide strikes impacting French oil product shipments. ​ WTI crude couldn’t quite rally above the $83.45 level and traders decided that might be it for now. ​ There was no strong catalyst for the oil price drop towards the $82.40 region as the dollar was steady and risk appetite was healthy as stocks extended gains. In fact, there was good reason to be optimistic about the short-term outlook for air travel demand following the Delta CEO’s comments.

    The oil market looks like it will remain tight but if this profit-taking selloff is gaining steam, prices could still have more to give as this rally started from the mid-$60s.

    h2 Gold/h2

    Gold prices are surging here as cooling PPI data and rising jobless claims bolsters Fed rate cut bets. ​ This could be the moment for gold (in dollar terms) to make record highs. Gold is a hop, skip and a jump from record territory and it might take a major retail sales drop and disappointing start to bank earnings for it to get there. ​ If gold can rally above the current record of $2,075.47/oz, it might not have much difficulty targeting the $2100 level.

    h2 Cryptos/h2

    Today is all about Ethereum and its successful Shanghai Upgrade. ​ It took more than a few years, but now Ethereum is fully Proof-of-Stake. ​ Withdrawals are allowed but it doesn’t seem like any serious dumping is occurring. ​ Ethereum is up 5.4% on the day, while Bitcoin has recaptured the $30,000 level, rising 1.6%.