Down sharply on the day
The price of WTI crude oil futures have fallen around three dollars a barrel or 3.6%. The price currently trades at $77.85 (December contract). The January contract is down $-2.65 or -3.32% at $77.09.
Looking at the hourly chart, the price has now moved below the swing low from November 4 at $78.24, and will next look down toward the 38.2% retracement of the move up from the August 23 low. That level comes in at $76.35.
The move to the downside started right around a headline that the US had sold 3.2 million barrels from the strategic petroleum reserve and that the supply had reached the lowest level since 2003. Technically the price has stayed mostly below the 100 and 200 hour moving averages.
From the October highs, the price has moved down around -8.38%. However the rise from the August low took the price up some 38% from that level. For the year, the price at the end of December was at $48.18. At the current level, the price rise has been about 60% from that level.
The XLE ETF – Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund – is one of the biggest gainers this year with a rise of 51% year-to-date.