A slow down? After three days of going up, US crude oil is flat today, hovering around $77.88.

WTI crude drops from $78.16 to $77.88 per barrel, losing 28 cents (0.36%) today.

This uncertain state for WTI crude is reflected by published market data as highly important Initial Jobless Claims data from United States beat analyst expectations of 195,000 with a reading of 190,000. United States Nonfarm Productivity (QoQ) (Q4) released yesterday at 13:30 UTC with a figure of 1.7, while the previous figure was 1.4. United States Unit Labor Costs (QoQ) (Q4) came out at 3.2, while a consensus of analysts was expecting 1.6.

Crude Oil's upper Bollinger Band® is at $80.09, suggesting that a downward move may follow. In contrast, West Texas crude is approaching key support, around 67 cents away from $77.21. 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.

Despite the market lacking direction, technical chart analysis strongly suggests West Texas crude is positioned for a downward move in the near term.

Meanwhile, mixed performances are seen in other Energy as Natural Gas is up 1.3%.

Data to be released later is expected to clarify investor sentiment while boosting price action volatility as United States ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI (Feb) scheduled to come out today at 15:00 UTC.

11 months ago US crude oil reached a significant high of $124.77 but has consequently lost 37.36% since then.