FXStreet reports that according to strategists at Credit Suisse, gold (XAU/USD) needs to hold below the $1755/65 neighborhood to maintain its immediate downside bias.

“Gold has retested and again held key support at $1682/71 – the 38.2% retracement of the entire 2015/2020 bull market and the recent and June 2020 lows. Resistance at $1755/65 needs to cap to suggest this is just a temporary hold ahead of an eventual break in due course, with support then seen next at $1620/15 and ultimately the ‘measured top objective’ and 50% retracement at $1564/61.”

“Above $1765, the yellow metal would see a near-term base established for a deeper recovery to $1855/75, but with a fresh cap looked for here.”

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed on Wednesday that crude inventories fell by 3.522 million barrels in the week ended April 2, following a drop of 0.876 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had forecast a draw of 1.436 million barrels.

At the same time, gasoline stocks surged by 4.044 million barrels, while analysts had expected a decrease of 0.221 million barrels. Distillate stocks rose by 1.452 million barrels, while analysts had forecast an advance of 0.486 million barrels.

Meanwhile, oil production in the U.S. decreased by 200,000 barrels a day to 10.900 million barrels a day.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.3 million barrels per day last week, up by 119,000 barrels per day from the previous week.

FXStreet notes that oil prices have jumped up by around 20% since the beginning of the year. Economists at Capital Economics still expect the release of ‘pent-up’ demand at a time of constrained global supply to deepen the market deficit and increase oil prices in the near-future, but recent developments - particularly on the supply side - have convinced them to revise down oil mid-year price forecasts.

“OPEC+ production now looks set to rise faster than we had anticipated in the coming months, although it will remain below pre-virus levels. OPEC+ announced that output quotas would increase by 350,000 bpd in May and June, and by 440,000 bpd in July. Beyond July, we think that high prevailing prices will incentivise further rises in OPEC+ production.”

“We expect global oil demand to be markedly higher this year compared to last year. We are revising up our forecast of US consumption as the rapid easing of lockdowns and fiscal stimulus are likely to boost transport activity. However, in the near-term, strong US demand growth will be partly offset at the global level by our downward revision to consumption in the EU and parts of the developing world, owing to the re-imposition of virus-related travel restrictions.”

“We still expect oil prices (Brent) to peak at $75 per barrel in Q3 ($80 previously) on the back of a rebound in global demand. However, steady increases in OPEC+ production will start to clear the market deficit and we still expect prices to fall to $70 by end-2021 and $60 by end-2022.”