The situation in Cyprus should foster an appreciation of Brent. This scenario should indeed lead to an appreciation of the dollar and mechanically a fall of the black gold.

Recent figures in China have been mixed. Industrial production and retail sales were worse than expected, while the consumer price index has positively surprised the consensus.

Technically, once again Brent is in a neutral area. In weekly data, moving averages confirm this trend as shown by their horizontal orientation since the end of 2012. The macroeconomic factors militate in favor of a more positive scenario, even if the evolution of the dollar should not lead to the appreciation of the black gold. In early February, prices have once again failed to rise close to USD 120, which may lead to a return on the threshold of USD 106.4. Special care should be taken in this area, which must absolutely contain the downward movement, otherwise a downward acceleration will occur.

Therefore, a neutral bias is privileged within the USD 119/106.5 trading range. The bearish scenario is preferred in case of breakdown of USD 106.5/105.5. In this case, the target price would be USD 98 and USD 91.