Oil Soars 24% In Biggest One-Day Surge On Record

One day after oil crashed by a near record 25%, a move which made some sense in light of the historic dollar short squeeze and surge to all time highs in the Bloomberg dollar index, today oil has rebounded violently, and after rising as much as 26%, WTI settled up $4.85 at $25.22, or 23.81% higher…

… its biggest one day move on record!

There was no actual catalyst, although some oil traders cited a rogue rumor that emerged just before the big spike according to which “Putin has instructed Novak to engage the #Saudis 🇸🇦 to resume #OPEC+ supply cuts.”

#Oil prices are green again.

Why?

🔴 🇷🇺 Rumors #Putin has instructed Novak to engage the #Saudis 🇸🇦 to resume #OPEC+ supply cuts.

🔴 🇺🇸 DoE announced tender for 30 million barrels #SPR stocks. All from small & mid sized #American producers.#OOTT pic.twitter.com/29N3oU0kF3

— Yesar Al-Maleki (@yesar) March 19, 2020

However, that was merely a regurgitation of a rumor that hit one day earlier.

Remarkably, today’s record surge took place even as the dollar index continued to soar, suggesting the move was most likely a counter-trend short squeeze.

That said, putting the move in context, despite today’s record surge, oil is still down 17% for the week.