A slow down? After three days of going up, WTI crude oil is flat today, hovering around $71.89.

After closing the previous trading day at $72.15, WTI crude rose as high as $72 today before paring back gains and trading at $71.89 per barrel.

West Texas crude is currently trading at $71.89 following the release of ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI (May) data from the United States.

Uncertainty around US crude oil is reflected by published market data as United States ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI (May) released today at 14:00 UTC with a figure of 50.3, while the previous figure was 51.9. United States Services PMI came out at 54.9, while a consensus of analysts was expecting 55.1. Factory Orders in United States fell short of market expectations (1.1%) with a reading of 0.4%, continuing the decline from the previous figure of 0.6%.

Crude Oil made an initial break below its 10 day Simple Moving Average at $71.85, a possible indication of a forthcoming negative trend. West Texas crude's upper Bollinger Band® is at $74.69, suggesting that a downward move may follow. Despite this, WTI crude is approaching key support, around $1.28 away from $73.17. 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 US crude oil is positioned for a downward move in the near term.

Meanwhile, mixed performances are seen in other Energy as Natural Gas moves 1.11% to trade around $2.27.

Moreover, United States EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook scheduled to come out tomorrow at 16:00 UTC.

West Texas crude is now trading 6% above the significant low ($68.06) it slumped to 5 days ago.