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Oil prices rose today as traders seemingly closed out some short positions ahead of this weekend. Congress also passed the debt ceiling deal that will avert a government default. Weaker jobs data was also bullish as the hope is that the Federal Reserve will pause interest rate hikes. “No one wants to be short crude going into a weekend OPEC+ meeting. Traders should never underestimate what the Saudis will do and leverage during OPEC+ meetings,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at data and analytics firm OANDA. Brent and WTI closed at their highest level since late May but were still down 1% week over week. WTI traded up $1.64 or 2.3% to close at $71.74. Brent traded down $1.85 or -2.5% to close at $76.13.