Crude Oil Tests Psychological $50.00 Level; Set to Finish Week About 9% Higher

November Crude Oil futures are set to finish the week about 9% better after a slightly higher trade on Friday. The market gained some late support on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve minutes suggested the central bank was in no hurry to raise interest rates.

Also helping to boost the market this week was a general agreement between OPEC and Russia to discuss overproduction concerns in the oil market and another drop in the number of producing rigs. Traders are currently waiting for this week’s rig count by Baker Hughes.

The November contract reached the psychological $50.00 level today. Some investors believe it is due for a short-term top because of oversupply concerns. In addition, Iran is close to releasing greater supply on the market. The direction of the market into the close and early next week will likely be decided by the Baker Hughes rig count later today.

A surge in industrial metals – namely zinc and copper – helped drive down the U.S. Dollar along with the dovish comments from the Fed. This was supportive for December Comex Gold futures, driving the market up over $20.00 for the week.

The EUR/USD finished the week on an up note. After consolidating for several weeks because of the threat of a Fed rate hike, the Euro finally broke out of its range, putting it in a position to finish about 0.0130 higher for the week.

Last week’s weaker-than-expected U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls report and this week’s Fed minutes which showed there is no timetable for a rate hike, helped underpin the market. Comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Thursday seemed to be supportive for the single-currency. Draghi basically said the ECB was poised to extend or expand stimulus if necessary. However, this news was already priced into the market since he first made the comment on September 3.

A weaker dollar was also behind the strength in the British Pound. Earlier this week, the Bank of England left interest rates and current stimulus levels unchanged. The central bank gave little new guidance on policy to investors while playing down the impact of the problems in China. Only one Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member voted for an interest rate hike.

The BoE said cost pressure in the U.K.’s labor market were rising too slowly for inflation to return to the bank’s 2% target, and that inflation would stay below 1% until spring 2016.

Policymakers appeared fairly relaxed about problems in emerging markets, saying there was little evidence so far that the slowdown in these markets was having much impact on advanced economies. Nonetheless, a risk remained that “emerging market prospects might deteriorate further” the policymakers said.