The WTI crude oil on Friday pulled back to trade at about $78.12 after setting a new 2-week high of about $78.70 on Thursday. The light crude oil price continues to trade within an ascending channel formation in the 60-min chart.
As a result, the price of oil remains several levels above the 100-hour moving average line. This has pushed the oil price closer to the overbought levels of the 14-hour RSI.
WTI Crude Oil Fundamentals Overview
From a fundamental perspective, light crude oil is trading at the back of a relatively busy period in the market. Earlier this week, US durable goods orders for January missed the expected change of -4% with a change of -4.5%. On the other hand, nondefense capital goods orders ex-aircraft beat the expected change of 0% with a change of 0.8%, while the February ISM Manufacturing PMI fell short of the expected reading of 48 with a reading of 47.7. Traders will be looking forward to Friday’s ISM Services PMIs.
In the latest US crude inventory data, the API weekly crude oil stocks for last week fell to 6.203 million barrels down from the previous week’s equivalent of 9.895 million. On the other hand, the EIA crude oil stock change missed the expected change of 0.457 million with a barrel count of 1.165 million. This was still a significant improvement from the previous week’s barrel count of 7.648 million.
WTI Crude Oil Technical Analysis (the 60-min Chart)
Technically, the light crude oil price appears to be trading within an ascending channel formation in the 60-min chart. This indicates a significant short-term bullish bias in the market sentiment.
Therefore, the bulls will be looking to ride the current rally toward $78.76 or higher to $79.54. On the other hand, the bears will be targeting potential pullbacks at about $77.37 or lower at $76.62.
WTI Crude Oil Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)
In the daily chart, the light crude oil appears to be trading within a sideways channel formation. This indicates a lack of a clear long-term directional bias in the market sentiment.
Therefore, the bulls will be targeting long-term profits at about $81.69 or higher at $84.92. On the other hand, the bears will look to pounce on profits at about $74.68 or lower at $71.31.