WTI climbs to its highest level in more than 3 months at $57.80

• U.S.-China trade optimism fuels crude oil rally.
• Coming up: Weekly Baker Hughes rig count from the U.S.

Following yesterday’s technical slide, crude oil prices gained traction on Friday and the barrel of West Texas Intermediate rose to its highest level since mid-November at $57.80. As of writing, the barrel of WTI was up 1.5% on the day, trading at $57.70 ahead of weekly Baker Hughes data. With today’s upsurge, the WTI looks to add more than 3% for the week.

Hopes of the U.S. and China reaching a trade deal seems to be the primary driver of crude oil’s rally. Additionally, markets continue to price the expectations of tighter global oil supply amid U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and Iran. Earlier in the session, an official for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that the U.S. – China trade talks were positive but there was still no clarity on issues such as technology transfer, intellectual property and structural reforms.

Investors are now focused on the meeting between President Trump and China’s top trade official Liu He. “Vice-Premier Liu He was due to meet with US President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon to cap the two-day round of talks,” South China Moning Post reported. “Negotiators are racing to strike a deal before the March 1 deadline, when Washington has said it will impose more than double the current tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese imports.”

Technical levels