Crude Oil, Uranium Forecast: Prices Rise on OPEC Report, Wall Street Bets Mentions

Crude Oil, OPEC, Tropical Storm, Uranium, Reddit – Talking Points

• Crude and Brent oil benchmarks gain as broader sentiment improves
• Tropical Storm Nicholas causing supply, export disruptions in Gulf Coast
• Uranium stocks gain the attention of the Reddit Wall Street Bets Group

Crude and Brent oil benchmarks are gaining this week as lingering supply and production disruptions and a broader theme of risk-taking push prices higher. Crude oil is on track for its fourth weekly gain, currently up over 1% since Monday. Meanwhile, Brent oil prices are following closely behind and looking for their second weekly gain. A report from OPEC sent a bullish sign to traders on Monday. In the report, OPEC sees oil demand rising above pre-pandemic levels next year.

A broader sense of risk-taking is also helping lift prices after traders returned from the weekend and pushed Wall Street stocks higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.76% on Monday. Markets were plagued by profit-taking and a breakdown in sentiment on global growth worries. Those fears appear to have receded for now, at least partially.

The Delta Covid wave did dent the demand-side picture for markets, although some positive developments are occurring to suggest global consumption will pick up into the end of the year. Earlier this week, New Zealand announced that lockdown restrictions will roll back in all parts of the country outside of Auckland.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Nicholas is pummeling the coast of Texas and Western Louisiana with rain and high winds. The storm is causing supply chain disruptions, with refineries shuttered along with tanker loading ports. The Corpus Christi export hub operated by Moda Midstream suspended operations on Monday as the storm approached.

Uranium Catches Meme Stock Traders’ Attention

Internet traders on the popular Reddit trading forum Wall Street Bets turned their collective attention on uranium mining stocks as the price of physical uranium surges. Swaggy Stocks, a site that tracks ticker sentiment on the Reddit group, shows a notable spike in comment volume for Cameco Corporation – one of the largest uranium producers in the world.

The commodity’s spot price – most commonly used as a nuclear reactor fuel – rose over 25% last week on the futures market. Sprott Physical Uranium Trust, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, is one of the single largest drivers in the market, with the fund making big purchases since July. Traders are also betting that a pickup in green energy initiatives will help drive nuclear fuel demand to meet tomorrow’s energy needs. The uranium move may extend higher, but caution should be given considering the already big move higher.

Uranium Weekly Chart

Chart created with TradingView

Crude Oil Technical Forecast

The bullish move in crude oil pushed prices above channel resistance, the falling 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) and the psychologically imposing 70 handle. The strong move above confluent resistance may see bullish bets increase in the coming days, with MACD and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) both tracking higher.

Crude Oil Daily Chart

Chart created with TradingView

--- Written by Thomas Westwater, Analyst for DailyFX.com

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