Energy traders focused on West Texas crude as it powers 0.7% higher

After closing the previous trading day at $77.05, West Texas crude is up to $77.59 per barrel, which makes for a move of 0.7%/54 cents today.

United States ISM Manufacturing PMI (Feb) is next today at 15:00 UTC.

On the flip side, highly important Consumer Confidence data from United States beat analyst expectations of 108.5 with a reading of 102.9.

At the same time, United States API Weekly Crude Oil Stock came out at 6.20 million, while a consensus of analysts was expecting 440,000. United States Chicago PMI (Feb) released yesterday at 14:45 UTC with a figure of 43.6, while the previous figure was 44.3.

Trend-focused traders would be interested to note that the MACD index is indicating that momentum is shifting from bearish to bullish following a positive crossover. When the MACD rises above the signal line, it is typically considered to be a bullish development favoring long positions. According to asset volatility analysis, US crude oil's upper Bollinger Band® is at $79.93, this is a slight indication of a slowdown.

Overall, while West Texas crude has been on an uptrend, technical indicators suggest that it has no obvious direction for the immediate future.

This rally in West Texas crude's price coincides with other Energy as Brent Crude Oil improves 1.72% to trade around $83.87.

Other Energy are showing mixed performance as Natural Gas moves 0.4% to trade around $2.76.

Also worthy of note, United States Crude Oil Inventories expected to decline to 457,000 while its preceding data was 7.65 million, data will be available today at 15:30 UTC. Tomorrow at 13:30 UTC data for United States Initial Jobless Claims will be released, with an expected decline to 195,000 from the preceding figure of 192,000.

Furthermore, the market is looking at United States ISM Manufacturing PMI (Feb) is scheduled for today at 15:00 UTC.

Over the past 11 months, WTI crude oil has retreated 38.25% from a noteworthy peak of $124.77.