COMMODITIES: Gains for WTI Futures This Week Mark Acceleration of Bull Phase

WTI futures have traded higher this week and yesterday’s gains mark an acceleration of the current bull phase. The contract has cleared all key retracement points of the Apr 2 - 9 bear leg and this signals scope for an extension towards $71.10 the Apr 2 high and a key hurdle for bulls. A break of this level would strengthen the bullish condition. On the downside, initial firm support to watch is $63.04, 50-day EMA. A bullish theme in Gold remains intact and the latest pullback appears corrective. Medium-term trend signals remain bullish - moving average studies are in a bull-mode position, highlighting a dominant uptrend. An extension higher would open $3435.6 next, the May 7 high. A break of this hurdle would strengthen bullish conditions. On the downside, support to monitor is $3249.9, the 50-day EMA.

• WTI Crude down $0.53 or -0.78% at $67.63
• Natural Gas up $0.08 or +2.31% at $3.581
• Gold spot up $4.11 or +0.12% at $3358.67
• Copper down $2 or -0.42% at $479.3
• Silver down $0.27 or -0.73% at $35.9665
• Platinum up $5.01 or +0.4% at $1264.83