International oil prices are facing the risk of falling oil demand, and they are wary of the hawkish Fed hitting crude oil bulls

Crude Oil Price Forecast: Oil prices are lower in broad safe-haven trading, but volatility is weakening; Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will attend a Senate hearing, data may indicate weaker demand; Key chart resistance is around $80/b and support is
above $75/b.

Crude oil prices fell for the second straight session on Monday (Jan.
10), broadly echoing broader risk sentiment volatility, but much less volatile than benchmark U.
S.
stock indexes
.
The initial sell-off – seemingly motivated by concerns about the Fed's hawkish stance – led to oil prices recovering some of their losses later in the day
.

For WTI contracts, this means a loss of 0.
85%, while the average daily volatility of the recent trend is around 1.
5%.

In short, crude oil prices have not fluctuated
particularly dramatically.
In stark contrast, the S&P 500 fell as much as 2.
1% before turning sharply and narrowing its decline to 0.
12%.

At the Powell hearing, the Fed's outlook came into focus
.
Is crude oil demand weakening?

Bets on Fed policy are likely to remain the focus of the market, with all eyes now turning to today's
Senate hearing of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
As officials try to weigh down stubborn expectations of price growth, the U.
S.
central bank governor looks likely to stick to the spirit of
fighting inflation.
This could put pressure
on oil.

EIA's latest short-term energy outlook, as well as API's estimate of weekly inventory flows in the United States, will also be released
later.
While production bets stabilized after the decline, near-term demand expectations have slipped
.
At the same time, refined oil inventories are increasing
even as crude oil inventories decrease.

Overall, this warns of slower economic growth and perhaps disruptions related to the Omicron variant of Covid-19 could dent end-demand
.
This could trickle upstream and become a signal of oversupply, weighing on oil prices
.
If that starts to manifest itself this week, combined with hawkish rhetoric from the Fed, crude oil prices look vulnerable
.

Technical analysis of crude oil

Crude oil prices are hovering around resistance at 79.
60 and the RSI indicator (Relative Strength Index) is showing early signs of a top divergence, warning that upside momentum is waning
.
This may indicate consolidation, but it can also be a precursor
to a reversal to the downside.
Initial support is at 75.
27 and a break below it will lead further towards the dense area of 72.
52
.
Conversely, a break of resistance will hopefully look further towards the 2021 top of 85.
41
.