Mixed sentiment sees WTI crude oil ending the day broadly flat; establishes tight $68.95 to $70 range

Without a clear-cut direction, WTI crude oil is trading around $69.86 per barrel and ranging between $68.95 and $70.

United States GDP is next today at 12:30 UTC.

WTI crude oil's state is reflected by market data as Crude Oil Inventories in United States fell short of market expectations (-1.76 million) with a reading of -9.60 million, continuing the decline from the previous figure of -3.83 million. United States 7-Year Note Auction released yesterday at 17:00 UTC with a figure of 3.839, while the previous figure was 3.827. United States Cushing Crude Oil Inventories came out at 1.21 million, while a consensus of analysts was expecting 89,000.

A study of WTI crude oil's chart reveals various key levels to watch: Crude Oil is approaching key support, around $2.31 away from $67.55. 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. Concerning technical analysis and more specifically, trend indicators, West Texas crude made an initial break below its 5 day Simple Moving Average at $69.06, a possible indication of a forthcoming negative trend. Asset volatility analysis shows that WTI crude's upper Bollinger Band® is at $72.85 and the lower is $67.37.

With market volatility ebbing, the current technical outlook indicates US crude oil will remain range-bound for the immediate future.

Meanwhile, mixed performances are seen in other Energy as Heating Oil moves 0.62% to trade around $2.42. Brent Crude Oil moves 0.41% to trade around $74.33.

Data to be released later is expected to clarify investor sentiment while boosting price action volatility as as things stand, upcoming United States GDP data is projected to fall short of market expectations with newly published data of 1.4, following on from the preceding figure of 2.6. New data is set to be published today at 12:30 UTC. Today at 12:30 UTC data for United States Initial Jobless Claims will be released, with an expected decline to 266,000 from the preceding figure of 264,000. United States Core PCE Price Index (MoM) (May) is expected tomorrow at 12:30 UTC.

West Texas crude hit a significant low of $67.25 around 17 days ago, but has since recovered 3.43%.