Crude oil settles at $58.21 | Forexlive

The price of WTI crude oil futures settled at $58.21. That’s down -$2.21 or -3.7%.

The low price today reached $57.94. The high price was at $60.39. The price traded to the lowest level: back to April 9. The settlement is the first below 60 since April 8. The lowest close this year was at $58.15, just below this level.

There are a number of different reasons for the decline including:

• Concerns that U.S. tariff policies are slowing global growth and may push the U.S. economy into recession.

• U.S. Q1 GDP contracted by 0.3%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis—well below the expected 0.8% growth and a sharp reversal from 2.4% growth in Q4 2024.

• Consumer confidence has plummeted, with the index hitting its lowest level since 1990, signaling widespread concern among households.

• Private sector hiring sharply missed expectations, with the ADP Employment Report showing just 62,000 new jobs in April—far below the 134,000 forecast and down from 147,000 in March.

• OPEC+ is adding significant new supply, with 411,000 barrels/day set to return to market in May and more likely in June as the group unwinds its 2.2M bpd voluntary cuts.

• Saudi Arabia is signaling readiness for a “prolonged period of low prices”, aiming to regain market share and retaliate against countries like Kazakhstan and Iraq for overproducing.

The only positive today was that

• Oil inventories unexpectedly declined, with the EIA reporting a 2.7M barrel draw last week vs. expectations for a 0.39M barrel build, but the bullish signal was overshadowed by broader macro and supply-side pressures.

Looking at the daily chart, the low price for the year – are going back to February 2021 reached $55.15 on April 7. There is no below support between the current level and that level.

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