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Oil prices recovered from the sharp drop during the previous week, changed direction and promptly climbed up during the week. The recent news from the U.S. of the improvement in the housing market including the gains in the housing starts, and the rise in sales of news homes may have been among the factors to trade up crude oil; furthermore, the rise in core durable goods was a also a positive signal to the slow recovery of the U.S economy; finally, the sharp drop in U.S. crude oil stockpiles might suggest a rise in demand for oil.

By the end of the week, WTI increased by 6.52% and Brent by 5.05%; as a result, the difference between Brent and WTI slipped to $9.62/b on Friday.

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The last week of the year brings few news items on the agenda and will probably be with a slow trading week. That being said there are several important financial news items that may affect forex and commodities prices; some of the items include: U.S. pending home sales report, Japan's minutes of the last rate decision; Euro Area monetary development. Here is an outlook for the week of December 26th to 30th.
(All times GMT):
1. Monday 26th of December tentative – Bank of Japan –Minutes of last Monetary Policy Meeting: following the recent policy meeting and rate decision from last week, in which the BOJ decided to kept the interest rate unchanged at 0 to 0.1 percent, this report will present the minutes of the recent ...