The crude oil market continues to see a lot of sideways action overall, as the market is stuck in a well-defined range. At this point, I suspect that we aren't going to be going anywhere in the short term. However, we are looking for a breakout in January.

The West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil Market had a fairly negative week, but really at this point in time, we have to keep things in perspective here. And the perspective would be that very much in a range and therefore I don't necessarily think this is a situation where traders are going to be looking at this as a market that is doing anything other than killing time, and that's exactly how I'm playing this. Longer term traders have to wait for a break either below $65 or a break above $72.50. If we can get above there, then $80 is the target and I suspect the upside is probably the right way, if for no other reason than inflation. But we'll just have to wait and see. Between now and the end of the year, I anticipate more of the same.

The Brent market looks very much the same as well, with $70 offering quite a bit of support and I think that support should hold. But even if it doesn't, I look at $66.50 level underneath there as the next support level. The $80 level above is massive resistance, but we need to get through $76 to even think about that. Again, I think we're just at the bottom of the range. We're just bumping along, and sooner or later, there will be a reason for oil to rally. And like I said, it might just be inflation, but it could be a lot of different things. Central banks around the world are starting to cut rates again. Perhaps it'll drive demand up as well.