On Thursday, the WTI crude oil fell off the weekly highs of about $78.70 before extending the current decline to $76.33 on Friday. The oil price continues to trade within a descending channel formation in the 60-minute chart.

The light crude oil price has now fallen to trade slightly below the 100-hour moving average line. As a result, the oil price is on the verge of entering 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 Thursday, the ISM Manufacturing PMI for July missed the expectation of 48.8 with a reading of 46.8. The ISM Manufacturing Employment Index for the period also fell short of 49 with 43.4, while the ISM Manufacturing Prices Paid beat 51.8 with 52.9.

Elsewhere, the initial jobless claims for the week ending July 26 missed 236k with a significantly higher claim count of 249k. The US nonfarm productivity for Q2 exceeded forecasts of 1.7% with a change of 2.3%, while unit labour costs missed 1.8% with a change of 0.9%.

In the latest US crude inventories, the API weekly crude oil stock for the week ending July 26 fell to -4.495 million down from the previous week’s equivalent of -3.9 million. On the other hand, the EIA crude oil stocks change for last week outshone the forecasted change of -1.6 million with a change of -3.436 million, up from the preceding week’s equivalent of -3.741 million.

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

Technically, the WTI crude oil price trades within a descending channel formation in the 60-minute chart. The 14-hour RSI also supports a downward movement as it edges closer to oversold conditions.

Therefore, the bears will look to extend the current run of declines toward $75.80 or lower to $75.24. On the other hand, the bulls will look to pounce on rebounds at about $77.00 or higher at $77.60.

WTI Crude Oil Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)

In the daily chart, the light crude oil price trades within a descending channel formation. However, the 14-day RSI has recently bounced back to avoid falling into oversold conditions.

Therefore, the bull will look to extend the current rebound towards $78.15 or higher to $80.11. On the other hand, the bears will be targeting profits at about $74.69 or lower at $72.38.