FUNDAMENTALOVERVIEWWe saw a classic “sell thefact” reaction last week after the G7 economies and the IEA agreed to release arecord 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves. Despite that, oilprices climbed back into triple-digit territory as hopes for a quick end to thewar faded and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz continued.Trump is now pushing formilitary escorts in the Strait and urging other nations to join the effort. Sofar, no country has signed on that as nobody wants to get directly involved inthe conflict. Even if they did, it’s unlikely that oil prices would drop much.Trump reiterated yesterdaythat oil prices would “drop like a rock” once the war ends, and he’s absolutelyright. The key issue, though, is the timing. When pressed on that, he remainedvague, as usual, but admitted it’s not happening this week.Until we see realde-escalation, the path of least resistance for oil prices is still to theupside, with limited room for a meaningful correction.CRUDE OILTECHNICAL ANALYSIS – DAILY TIMEFRAMEOn the daily chart, we cansee that crude oil is consolidating between the 93.00 support and the 100.00handle. There’s not much we can glean from this timeframe, so we need to zoomin to see some more details. CRUDE OIL TECHNICALANALYSIS – 4 HOUR TIMEFRAMEOn the 4 hour chart, we cansee more clearly the consolidation between the 93.00 support and the 100.00handle. The buyers will likely continue to step in around the support with adefined risk below it to keep pushing into new highs, while the sellers willlook for a break lower to pile in for a drop back into the 80.00 handle next.CRUDE OIL TECHNICALANALYSIS – 1 HOUR TIMEFRAMEOn the 1 hour chart, wehave a minor downward trendline defining the recent pullback into the support. Thesellers will likely continue to lean on the trendline with a defined risk aboveit to keep pushing into new lows, while the buyers will look for a break higherto increase the bullish bets into new highs. The red lines define the average daily range for today.UPCOMING CATALYSTSTomorrow we have the US PPI report and the FOMC policy decision. On Thursday, weget the latest US Jobless Claims figures. The focus remains on the US-Iran war,so keep an eye on the headlines, especially those regarding the Strait ofHormuz. This article was written by Giuseppe Dellamotta at investinglive.com.