CRUDE OIL PRICE STEADY AS GEOPOLITICAL TEMPERATURES RISE

The price of crude oil is hovering near its highest level in more than 7 years as investors focus on top geographical issues. The biggest issue in the market is Russia and the West. On Sunday, the US warned that Russia was about 70% prepared to invade Ukraine. Officials warned that the invasion could happen at any time. This is an important issue because of the vast amount of oil that Russia ships every day. Another geopolitical event set to move oil prices is the talks between the US and Iran on nuclear weapons. The talks are aimed at preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons and are a response to the decision by Trump to exit the nuclear deal.

American equities tilted higher on Monday as investors reflected on the recent earnings season. According to FactSet, 56% companies in the FTSE index have already published their quarterly results. 76% of these companies published results that had a positive EPS surprise while 77% had a positive revenue surprise. The blended earnings growth rate was 29.2%. If the results are like that, it will mark the fourth straight quarter in which companies have grown by above 25%. More companies are set to publish their results this week including KKR, S&P Global, Fiserv, and Harley Davidson among others.

Cryptocurrency prices continued their comeback during the American and Asian sessions. Bitcoin price has jumped by more than 5% in the past 24 hours while Ethereum surged to more than $3,100. The total market cap of cryptocurrencies has risen back to more than $2 trillion. Analysts attribute this rally to the fact that sentiment in the market has improved substantially in the past few days. Indeed, most assets like stocks and commodities have rallied recently.

EURUSD

The EURUSD pair moved sideways as investors reflected on the recent Fed and ECB interest rate decisions. The pair is trading at 1.1435, which is slightly below last Friday’s high of 1.1483. It has formed what seems like a bullish pennant and cup and handle patterns. In most cases, these patterns are usually a sign of bullish continuation. Therefore, there is a likelihood that the pair will keep rising as bulls target the key resistance at 1.1500.

GBPUSD

The GBPUSD pair retreated slightly in the overnight session. It is trading at 1.3527, which is slightly below last week’s high of 1.3625. On the six-hour chart, the pair is slightly above the first support of Andrew Pitchfork’s tool. It is also along the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level and above the 25-day moving average level. Therefore, the pair will likely continue falling as bears target the key support at 1.3470.

EURCHF

The EURCHF pair declined slightly as investors reflected on the strong Swiss unemployment rate data. The pair is trading at 1.0567, which was slightly below last week’s high of 1.0600. On the four-hour chart, it is between the middle and upper lines of the Bollinger Bands. It is also above the 25-day moving average while the Average True Range (ATR) has risen. Therefore, the pair will likely pullback for a while and then resume the bullish trend.