WTI Crude Oil grinding it out just below $85

• WTI is seeing some back-and-forth for Friday.
• US Crude Oil barrels bounding between $85.00 and $83.00 per barrel.
• Oil markets remain concerned about Middle East tensions, but global slowdown hard to ignore.

West Texas Intermediary (WT) Crude Oil barrels are seeing some tension in the midrange on Friday, in play between $85.00 and $83.00 USD per barrel as energy markets spread their bets to the middle.

Oil markets continue to roil as Middle East headlines print across the tape, and barrel traders remain focused on developments in the Gaza Strip conflict.

Two separate Egyptian Red Sea towns were hit by errant projectiles early Friday, perfectly highlighting global markets’ concerns about potential spillover into neighboring regions in the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict.

Israel is facing global pushback on their planned full-scale invasion of Gaza, and so far has not executed their strategy, but Israeli forces still saw their largest ground attack of the contested region on Friday.

On Thursday Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian threatened intentional geopolitical turmoil while at the United Nations (UN), stating that the United States would “not be spared from this fire” if Israel continued to attack Hamas forces.

The current escalation was sparked by a Hamas rocket barrage three weeks ago that set a record for the number of people killed in a single attack up to that point.

Despite geopolitical tensions spilling out from the Jordan region, energy investors are having a hard time ignoring hardening signs of global growth weakness, and concerns are mounting in fossil fuels that demand for Crude Oil barrels is going to slump in the coming months.

WTI Technical Outlook

WTI Crude Oil is currently strung up in consolidation with candlesticks trading firmly inside familiar daily ranges. US Crude Oil is currently down almost 5% for the week as WTI cycles $84.00 per barrel.

$82.00 is proving to be a significant technical support level, while a bearish breakdown will see barrel bids challenging the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) currently parked near $78.00.

On the top side, the last swing high sits just shy of the $90.00 major psychological level, while a break above 2023’s ceiling of $93.98 would see WTI setting a 14-month high at the $94.00 handle.

WTI Daily Chart

WTI Technical Levels