WTI making bearish tracks below key technical support (now resistance) at 52.80

WTI has dropped to daily lows on the back of the private inventory data showing a much larger than expected build

While we await the official data tomorrow, the private API data offered a much bigger than the expected  2.5m bbls coming in at 14.2m vrs the prior 5.8m for last week - its fifth straight weekly build.  The gasoline inventory was expected to be a build of 1.1 million barrels, but again, the actual data showed a far greater build, around three times higher. 

WTI fell off a cliff at the start of this week, falling from 53.73 down to recent lows of 51.27, despite a softer tone to the dollar of late, albeit within a correction of the correction currently. "Crude oil prices fell as investors continued to fret about rising US output and inventories. Gasoline appeared to lead crude oil lower, with the fuel falling over 2%, explained analysts at ANZ today, adding, "A Bloomberg survey showed that traders expected gasoline inventories to reach a record high of 258.7 million barrels this week. EIA released its Short-Term Energy Outlook report, which also saw its estimate of US output in 2018 increase from 9.3 to 9.53 mb/d. These concerns were heightened after BP reported trading profits have evaporated on a smaller crack spread."  

Technically, the price has broken below the ascending support line from 50.40 to 52.83 (200 1hr sma was broken at 52.73) and is creating a bearish short-term picture, with 50.00 as the next psychological support. 54.58 was the Dec high while 53.50 is proving to be a tough area of offers.