In early European trading the price of spot crude oil eclipsed the psychological barrier amid global supply concerns and continued violence in Libya.
The price of spot crude oil climbed rapidly this morning to a high of $103.34 before falling back to the $101.00 level. The commodity opened the day trading at $98.64.
Strong bids were given early in the day as violent protests in the Middle East continue in the nations of Libya and Bahrain. Expectations of sustained turmoil in oil producing nations may cause a disruption in crude oil supplies, potentially derailing global economic growth.
The rise in spot crude oil prices may have technical implications as today’s high price coincides with a 61.8% Fibonacci retracement from the collapse of crude oil prices over the second half of 2008.
Trading in the major currency pairs has also been volatile this morning with the EUR/USD a one point falling as low as the 1.3700 level before rising to 1.3800. Currently the pair is trading near its opening day price 1.3775. Resistance is found at 1.3860 with support at1.3560 at the rising trend line from the February 14th low.
The pound is trading lower across the board with the GBP/USD near its daily low at 1.6157 from 1.6238. Support is found at Tuesday’s low of 1.6000 with resistance at yesterday’s high of 1.6275.
This afternoon at 13:30 GMT US weekly unemployment claims are expected to show 403K new jobless claims. The previous week posted 410K. Also on the US data calendar are monthly core durable goods orders and new home sales.
The current trend of strong US economic data has not allowed for US dollar strength with positive data feeding in to the USD selling. Expectations for a weaker dollar remain as European interest rates look to rise in the near term and risk aversion remains high.