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April 20, 2023
WTI crude crashes after losing $1.9, breaking down to $77.26 per barrel.
West Texas crude is currently trading at $77.26 following the release of Existing Home Sales (Mar) data from the United States.
Initial Jobless Claims in United States fell short of market expectations (240,000) with a reading of 245,000, continuing the decline from the previous figure of 240,000.
While price action maintains a negative bias, United States Existing Home Sales (Mar) released today at 14:00 UTC with a figure of 4.44 million, while the previous figure was 4.55 million. United States Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index (Apr) came out at -31.3, while a consensus of analysts was expecting -19.2.
Trend analysis indicates that Crude Oil made an initial break below its 50 day Simple Moving Average at $78.19, a possible indication of a forthcoming negative trend. Price action remains constrained around the key Fibonacci level of $77.77 currently serving as support. If price action breaks below, the next Fib hurdle is $76.47. Analysis based on the asset volatility indicates that Bollinger Bands® shows an indication of recovery: the lower band is at $74.47, a low enough level to, generally, suggest that WTI crude is trading below its fair value. Support/Resistance levels obtained from chart analysis indicate that WTI crude could begin to recover as it approaches significant support, now 56 cents away from $77.82. Dipping below could be an indication that further losses are ahead.
All in all, the technical analysis suggests West Texas crude has no clear-cut direction.
In the meantime, negative performances are also seen in other Energy as Heating Oil is trading around $2.48 (down 7.42 cents). Brent Crude Oil is down to $81.12, losing $2, after closing at $83.12 in the preceding trading session. Natural Gas is down to $2.16, losing 6.3 cents, after closing at $2.22 in the preceding trading session.
Over the past 10 months, WTI crude oil has retreated 35.16% from a noteworthy peak of $122.09.
