WTI jumps 2.5% towards $ 57 amid solid China PMI, OPEC cuts hopes

• Oil jumps on Chinese factory upturn, hopes of further OPEC cuts.
• Falling Russian oil exports and trade deal hopes also underpin prices.
• Markets await US factory data and US-China trade developments.

The WTI (oil futures on NYMEX) rebound from weekly lows of 55.02 gathered steam in the European session on Monday, now lifting the rates back above the midpoint of the 56 handle. The US oil jumps over 2.50% or $ 1.50 following a brief consolidative mode seen in the Asian trades.

The black gold reverses almost half the Friday’s decline, as the sentiment remains buoyed by the early signs of an economic turnaround in China, the world’s second-biggest oil consumer, as reflected by a solid upturn seen in its manufacturing sector activity data released earlier today.  Caixin China manufacturing PMI: 51.8 vs 51.7 in October

The barrel of WTI got an added boost on increased expectations of further OPEC cuts after Reuters reports some sources, as saying that the OPEC and its allies could consider deepening the output cuts at least until June next year when they meet this Friday in Vienna.

Also, the latest data from Russia’s Central Dispatching Department of Fuel Energy Complex, which showed a drop in the country’s exports last month, helped strengthen the bid tone around the commodity. Russia’s crude oil exports decreased by 4.2% in November 2019 YoY to 20.916 million tonnes, the data showed.

Looking ahead, the bulls will try hard to reclaim the 57 handle, in the wake of upbeat market mood combined with persisting US-China trade deal hopes. However, should the US Manufacturing data disappoint it could spoil WTI’s latest rebound.

WTI Levels to watch