It's been more of the same this session on the back of 4 days of flat trade, Today's session so far looks to be heading in a similar way — WTI crude is now trading at $76 per barrel after tracing out a steady $74.31 – $76.75 range today.
WTI crude oil's state is reflected by market data as United States Building Permits (Nov) came out at 1.34 million, while a consensus of analysts was expecting 1.49 million. United States API Weekly Crude Oil Stock released yesterday at 21:30 UTC with a figure of -3 million, while the previous figure was 7.82 million. United States Housing Starts (Nov) came out at 1.43 million.
As the trading day commences, technical analysis suggests Crude Oil is approaching key support, around $2.16 away from $73.86. 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.
Meanwhile, mixed performances are seen in other Energy as having closed the previous session at $5.33, Natural Gas is up 3.02% today to currently trade at around $5.49. Brent Crude Oil trades around $80.33, with no major change.
Data to be released later is expected to clarify investor sentiment while boosting price action volatility as United States Crude Oil Inventories projected to decline to -1.66 million while previous data was 10.23 million; data will be released today at 15:30 UTC. United States Initial Jobless Claims expected to decline to 222,000 while its preceding data was 211,000, data will be available tomorrow at 13:30 UTC. United States Existing Home Sales (Nov) is expected today at 15:00 UTC.
US crude oil has shed 31.56% over the past six months.