Oil prices continue to remain robust, and are in the process of consolidating prior to making a move.  Oil prices have been driven by a combination of economic news that is positive out of Asia, a weak dollar, and the fundamental information that is available in the US.

Last week, the Peoples Bank of China increased interest rates in a pre-emptive move prior to the release of a deluge of economic data, which included, GDP, Retail Sales and Inflation.  The GDP in China continues to grow as a solid rate, moving up 9.6% on a year over year basis.  Retail Sales increased by 18.8%, which was also better than analysts’ expectations.  Continued strong growth out of the world’s second largest economy, is a good reason for oil prices to remain high.

A close above the recent high of 84.39 on a daily basis will signal further upward pressure to the 87 level.

Oil prices also are connected to the dollar.  Since the price of the world’s oil are linked to the US dollar, as prices of the dollar decline, oil prices need to rise to remain at constant levels.  For example, if the dollar were to fall 5%, oil prices would need to rise by the same amount if they where to remain stable in currencies such as the Euro.  The rate of the US dollar continues to remain on the defensive as a combination of low yields, and technical factors continue to push the greenback lower.

From an inventory perspective, in the US, oil prices look overvalued.  Inventories are reported by the US Department of Energy.  The recession in the US, has created a large backlog of oil reserves, which is taking a considerable time to work off.  Recently, inventory levels have remained flat, during a period when inventories normally fall, which does not reflect a market in the US where there is strong demand.  Additionally, the days supply of oil, which is the amount needed per day in storage, has recently increased to 25 from 23.5, which also reflects a strong supply balance.

Luckily for oil bulls, the markets is not specifically concentrating on the fundamental balance in the US, and the additional factors, such as the value of the US dollar and global economic growth is trumping the fundamental news in the US for petroleum.

Technical Picture

Technically, oil prices look like they are poised to break to one side of the recent consolidation.  With equity prices continuing to rise and the likelihood of a QE from the FOMC, the direction will probably be upward.

If you’re interested in looking for a crude oil ticker, there are a number of different places where you can find one. Many times, it really has to do with identifying the crude oil numbers that come across the ticker that you may have available to you. Let’s take a look at a few different locations where you may be able to download a ticker or perhaps to view one online. At the same time, we will discuss the various things that you should be looking at in order to figure out what the price is at any given time.

One of the most popular places for you to find one of these tickers for crude oil is on your online Forex platform. Many Forex brokers are now allowing you to trade in a variety of different commodities, such as precious metals and oil. Typically, there will be a variety of different tools that are available inside of the Forex platform which will allow you to download one of these tickers and to view it at any given time. You would probably be surprised with the amount of information that you can get, once you get used to viewing the numbers that are crossing on your screen.

Another place for you to find this information is on a variety of different financial websites on the Internet. These are really almost anywhere that you look, and you can easily find one by doing a search on Google. Some of these are going to give you close to real-time results, while others may be operating on a slight delay. It is important for you to understand the difference between these two and to know which one you are looking at whenever you are viewing one of the tickers online. After all, looking at old numbers may influence you in the wrong way whenever it comes to placing a trade.

As far as looking at the numbers for oil trading on one of these tickers, it is always going to be a form of date followed by a dot and then the letters NYM. There are also some tickers which will give you the anticipated futures trading price for oil as well. Depending on the type of trading that you enjoy doing, you’ll want to make sure that you are looking at the right type of number in order to place your trades successfully.

Of course, you really don’t need to limit yourself to oil whenever it comes to having one of these tickers available, either on the Internet or on your computer. As a matter of fact, it always helps to diversify and the Forex market gives you the opportunity to do so easily. Take a look at all of the options that are available to you through your online Forex broker, you would probably be surprised to find that you already have the availability of these different opportunities waiting for you.