• Oil prices turn sideways after a rally around $80.00 as investors await US data.
• Investors hope a peak in Fed’s interest rates has been seen and the central bank will keep rates stable for the entire year.
• WTI prices delivered a breakout of the Descending Triangle chart pattern.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), futures on NYMEX, demonstrate a directionless performance after climbing to near the crucial resistance of $80.00 in the London session. The oil price struggles to find further direction as investors await more guidance about September’s monetary policy of the Federal Reserve (Fed).

Meanwhile, investors hope a peak in interest rates by the Fed has seen and the central bank will keep rates stable for the entire year. For further guidance, investors will focus on United States Q2 labor cost index and the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation.

It is worth noting that oil prices have maintained strength despite global central banks raising interest rates further. This indicates that investors believe that global interest rates are near peak and a bad time for oil is over.

WTI prices delivered a breakout of the Descending Triangle chart pattern formed on a daily scale. A breakout of the aforementioned chart pattern results in wider ticks and heavy volume. Upward-sloping 20-period Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $76.00 indicates that the short-term trend is bullish.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) (14) has shifted into the bullish range of 60.00-80.00, which indicates that the upside momentum is active.

For further upside, the oil price needs to break the intraday high of $80.42 decisively, which will drive the asset toward January 3 high at $81.56 followed by April 12 high at $83.40.

In an alternate scenario, an explosive downside move below July 17 low at $73.80 would drag the asset toward June 21 high at $72.70 and the round-level support of $70.00.

WTI daily chart