After dropping down to $76.31, West Texas crude recovers some losses and is currently trading at $77.2 per barrel.
United States Retail Sales is next.
Uncertainty around WTI crude oil is reflected by published market data as United States Interest Rate came out at 4.5, while a consensus of analysts was expecting 4.5. Highly important Crude Oil Inventories data from United States beat analyst expectations of -3.60 million with a reading of 10.23 million. United States Interest Rate Projection – 1st Yr (Q4) released yesterday at 19:00 UTC with a figure of 5.1, while the previous figure was 4.6.
Crude Oil is approaching key support, around $1.66 away from $75.54. Dipping below could indicate further losses are ahead while a failure to break below this level is likely to be seen positively by market bulls. WTI crude oil made an initial breakout above its 21 day Simple Moving Average at $77.25, a potential indicator of a newly emerging bullish phase.
Despite muted price action in WTI crude, chart analysis indicates it is positioned for a bullish run in the short term.
Meanwhile, mixed performances are seen in other Energy as Heating Oil is trading around $3.23 (down 4.45 cents). Natural Gas moves 0.59% to trade around $6.47.
Furthermore, the market is looking at today at 13:30 UTC data for United States Retail Sales will be released, with an expected decline to -0.1% from the preceding figure of 1.3%. United States Core Retail Sales projected to decline to 0.2% while previous data was 1.3%; data will be released today at 13:30 UTC. United States Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index (Dec) will be released today at 13:30 UTC.
West Texas crude has shed 34.97% over the past six months.