The price of WTI crude oil futures moved up to an intraday high of $72.31. That took the price $1.37 above the settle price of $70.94 yesterday. The current price is trading at $71.06 just above the settlement price.
Looking at the hourly chart, the price is trading just below its rising 100 hour moving average at $71.25. Bearish. It is also just below its 38.2% retracement of the move down from the October 25 high near that level comes in at $71.14. Bearish
The high price for the week - and from Wednesday's trade - peaked at $73.30. That was short of the 50% midpoint of the move down at $73.85. Getting above the 50% retracement would have helped the buyers, but fallen below keeps the sellers in play despite the rise above the 100 and 200 hour moving averages earlier this week. Now with the price tried to dip back below the 100 hour moving average, traders will next focus on the 200 hour moving average at $69.29. Moving below that level would put the sellers more firmly in control.
The NASDAQ index is back into negative territory -22 points -0.14%. The Dow industrial average is also negative now by 21 points or -0.06%. The S&P index is still positive by 7.1 points or 0.15%.
The decline in stock prices is helping to put pressure on the price of crude oil.
