Oil edges higher, eyes on Venezuela after opposition primary suspended

Earlier this month, the US granted Venezuela sanctions relief in exchange for holding fair elections this year.

That plan appears to be unravelling quickly as yesterday Venezuela’s electoral court said it is suspending opposition primaries days after President Nicolas Maduro called the vote a fraud.

To be fair, the 93% primary vote for María Corina Machado is suspiciously high on 2.5 million votes and the voting sheets have already been destroyed.

Given the actions from Maduro, I don’t see how the US sanctions can be removed for long, especially with such a flagrant violation of promises. WTI crude oil is up 61-cents to $82.92 today.

Looking ahead, the October lows need to hold for the bulls to remain in control. The numbers so far in Q4 haven’t been quite as tight as hoped for but it’s early and Chinese data is volatile.