Crude Oil Futures: Neutral/bullish near-term

In light of preliminary prints for Crude Oil futures markets from CME Group, open interest and volume went up by nearly 4.7K contracts and by around 103.5K contracts, respectively, on Thursday.

WTI faces initial hurdle at $43.50

Prices of the WTI keep the broad-based side-lined theme unchanged for the time being, Thursday’s bounce of daily lows was amidst rising open interest and volume, which adds to the view that further upside should not be ruled out. On the latter, the next target emerges at $43.50 ahead of the $44.00 barrier.