Though in the midst of a 4 day uptrend, gaining a total of 7.6%, ($3.97), Yesterday's session suggests run might be coming to an end — the Texan hydrocarbon explorer has recovered almost all of its session losses after dipping down to $44.19 yesterday.
Retail Sales data from United States will be released today at 13:30 UTC with analysts expecting a decline to -0.1%. Potentially significant price fluctuations in APA, Apache are expected to follow.
This down-slide takes place while positive United States macroeconomics indicators data was published earlier – highly important Crude Oil Inventories data from United States beat analyst expectations of -3.60 million with a reading of 10.23 million.
While price action maintains a negative bias, United States Interest Rate came out at 4.5, while a consensus of analysts was expecting 4.5. 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.
APA Corporation made an initial break below its 50 day Simple Moving Average at $44.72, a possible indication of a forthcoming negative trend. A "bearish engulfing" pattern — a scenario when a larger red candle engulfs a smaller green candle, at the top of a prevailing uptrend. Typically this is a signal of lower prices in the near term. After descending below strong Fibonacci support at $46.08, market bears have earmarked $43.69 as the next downside target. In contrast, APA, Apache could begin to recover as it approaches significant support, now $1.11 away from $43.93. Dipping below could be an indication that further losses are ahead.
Following today's unexpected losses, extensive multifactorial technical analysis forecasts APA, Apache to buck against its prevailing uptrend and begin to dip lower in the short term. With all probabilities considered, the the hydrocarbon exploration company is expected to attract significant bearish sentiment in the coming days.
APA, Apache was not the only decliner in the materials sector; BHP Billiton went down 1.5%, closed at $63.36. Rio Tinto lost 1.24% yesterday and closed at $70.72.
With markets struggling for positive sentiment, upcoming macro data could potentially attract buyers in the market as 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%. Projections for United States Core Retail Sales are set for a continuation of decline with 0.2% while previous data was 1.3%; data will be released today at 13:30 UTC.
Furthermore, United States Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index (Dec) is expected today at 13:30 UTC.
After hitting an important low of $23.94 approximately 11 months ago, the hydrocarbon exploration company has bounced back 91.44% since.