WTI Oil May Break Toward $83 as Consolidation Wraps Up

WTI crude-oil futures have closed within an extremely tight, 97-cent trading range for the past five sessions, ending between $79.74 and $80.71 a barrel. But prices are up 0.6% this morning at $80.23, and Peter Cardillo at Spartan Capital says he thinks the range will soon bust higher rather than lower. “While the longer-term outlook for oil remains guarded, the intermediate picture is brightening with a potential rise to the $83.50 level. We based this on the completion of a near-term consolidation phase,” he says in an email.