The catalyst that boosted the crude oil markets last week: Chinese Spring Festival
The investors of the crude oil markets managed to breathe a sigh of relief last week as the prices of the two benchmarks, WTI and Brent, remained fairly static, despite the unfavourable headwinds that blow across the markets. The price of LNG, liquified natural gas, for instance, fell sharply and shows no sign of recovery, as the warmer weather prevails in the northern hemisphere, with just a month left before the end of winter. In addition, the US crude stocks keeps building, reflecting a weak demand. The hemorrhage of jobs in their thousands in the technological sector, meanwhile, hardly helps counteracting the negative sentiment. Against this backdrop, analysts attribute the positive sentiment that we saw last week to the perceived high economic activities in China. The Chinese are celebrating their Spring Festival , also known as the Chinese New Year , the most important cultural event that dates back to the ancient times in full gear. They welcome the arrival of spring at the