WTI: a mixed bag of fundamentals, bearish 'hanging man' candle

• WTI a mixed bag of fundamentals.
• WTI capped on $64 handle, where now?

The price of WTI seems to be stabilising and dipped lower after reaching a high of $60.47 on 14th Jan. In fact, oil posted its biggest weekly loss in at least a month last week when the IEA predicted that U.S. shale production would hit levels not seen since the 1970s.

While pressured by concerns over growing U.S. oil production, the bulls were able to hold up the bears with reminders that Saudi Arabia said producers will cooperate beyond 2018. "We should not limit our efforts to 2018,” Khalid al-Falih said. 

Iraqi OilMin: Oil market is heading in the right direction

The barrel of WTI also finds support from the latest US drilling activity report published by the oilfields services company Bakers & Hughes on Friday. The report showed that the US drillers cut five oil rigs in the week to Jan. 19, bringing the count down to 747.

Saudi OilMin calls for extending cooperation between oil producers beyond 2018

US Government shutdown

Meanwhile, the dollar is bleeding on Monday as investors await the next developments surrounding the government shutdown. The Senate was expected to hold a procedural vote at noon Eastern Time after the Democrats voted against the bill last week in Congress so it is still unclear whether there will be enough support to keep the government funded through Feb. 8th. 

Looking ahead, the focus now remains on the US crude inventories reports due to be reported by the API and EIA later this week for the next direction.

Libya restarts Wintershall's oil fields to boost national output - BBG

WTI levels

The resistances come in as $64 (key support-turned-resistance) before $64.69 (3-year highs). On the flipside, supports can be seen at $63.07 (recent low), $62.74 (18th Jan low) and $62.45 (8th Jan high). Note, there is a hanging man candle formation on the daily sticks (15th Jan) that continues to play out with the price now trading below the 10-D SMA, all bearish for price action on a technical basis.