On Friday, the WTI crude oil price extended Thursday’s pullback to trade at about $62.80 after the latest US economic data. The oil price also completed a downward breakout from an ascending channel in the 60-minute chart.

The light crude oil price has now fallen to trade a few levels below the 100-hour moving average line. However, it later bounced back to recover from the oversold levels of the 14-hour RSI.

WTI Crude Oil Fundamentals Overview

From a fundamental perspective, the light crude oil price trades during a relatively busy period in the US market. On Friday, the US consumer price index for January missed the expected (MoM) change of 0.3%, with a change of 0.2%. The (YoY) equivalent also fell short of 2.5%, with a change of 2.4%. The consumer price index ex-food and energy was in line with the estimates of 0.3% (MoM) and 2.5% (YoY). 

On Thursday, the initial jobless claims for last week came in worse than expected, with 227k versus a forecast of 222k, down from the previous week’s claim count of 232k. Earlier in the week, the US nonfarm payrolls for January beat the forecast of 70k, with a tally of 130k, up from 48k in December.

In the latest US crude inventories, the API weekly crude oil stock for last week increased to 13.4 million, up from the previous week’s equivalent of -11.1 million. On the other hand, the EIA crude oil stocks change for last week increased from -3.455 million to 8.53 million, missing the forecasted change of -0.2 million. 

WTI Crude Oil Technical Analysis (the 60-min Chart)

Technically, the light crude oil price has completed a downward breakout from an ascending channel formation in the 60-minute chart. However, the 14-hour RSI recently bounced back to recover from oversold conditions.

Therefore, the bulls will look to extend the latest rebound towards $64.30 or higher to $65.89. On the other hand, the bears will look to pounce on profits at about $61.27 or lower at $59.68.

WTI Crude Oil Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)

In the daily chart, the WTI crude oil price trades within a descending channel formation. However, the 14-day RSI has recently bounced back to move closer to overbought conditions.

Therefore, the bulls will look to extend the current gains toward $70.75 or higher to $78.29. On the other hand, the bears will look to pounce on pullbacks at about $54.69 or lower at $46.17.