US crude oil trades at $82.96, disappointing United States Initial Jobless Claims data

WTI crude oil is now trading at $82.96 per barrel after tracing out a steady $82.76 – $83.44 range today.

• United States's Initial Jobless Claims new data released of 239,000 below its previous figure.
• While flat so far today, West Texas crude is on an 11 day bullish trend, gaining a total of $8.89 throughout.

Producer Price Index in United States fell short of market expectations (0.1%) with a reading of -0.5%, continuing the decline from the previous figure of -0.1%. Following a previous reading of 228,000, Initial Jobless Claims in United States released today at 12:30 UTC fell short of the 232,000 figure expected by analysts with an actual reading of 239,000.

Trend and momentum analysis indicates that investors are seeking long positions as Crude Oil price action surged above +100 — a key CCI threshold indicating an imminent bullish trend. Asset volatility analysis shows that WTI crude oil's upper Bollinger Band® is at $84.34, suggesting that a downward move may follow. Support/Resistance levels obtained from chart analysis indicate that WTI crude oil is approaching key support, around $1.1 away from $81.86. 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.

Notwithstanding US crude oil's appreciation in recent days, the technical outlook suggests its bullish run is now fading.

Tomorrow at 12:30 UTC data for United States Core Retail Sales will be released, with an expected decline to -0.3% from the preceding figure of -0.1%. United States Retail Sales is expected tomorrow at 12:30 UTC.

Natural Gas trades close to $2.11, with no major change.

Having set a significant high of $122.09 10 months ago, WTI crude oil is trading 31.8% lower.