December 29, 2021 - (Gold Market Wire) - Usually, at this stage of the 'proceedings' we should see oil losing the power uptrend and start re-tracing to gather energy. The question before us right now is - 'Can it?'

The chart development, so far, is interesting

The market is on edge, no doubt. There are serious concerns that the passing of the Russian Orthodox Christmas, on January 7 could green light an invasion of Eastern Ukraine and signal a start of hightened military action by NATO in response. How can crude sell-off in such an environment? Maybe it can't, even though it should. Our chart shows a serious power uptrend which is being stretched to the limits - but the 50 and 100-day mvong averages have both fallen, and the market may be consolidating above them.

We've been long for weeks now, and for the nervous type, one could consider taking 1/3 of the length off to pocket some money. The long-term/investor type, however, should be in the market for quite a long haul. The strength of the US Dollar is doing nothing to hamper oil's attractiveness. Quite honestly, in consideration of wholesale agriculture prices, and a litany of other commodities, including other energies, like Natgas and refined products - crude oil is cheap.

As we mentioned some time ago, the building of core positions was going to be essential. The smart investor has already done that. If not, any type of pull back may offer a last chance for many months and possibly even years. Crude oil now needs to be in every portfolio.