• WTI prices attract some buyers near $72.90 amid the ongoing Middle East tension. 
• The upbeat US economic data might convince the Federal Reserve (Fed) to keep its benchmark rate higher for longer. 
• The US launched retaliatory airstrikes on Friday against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and allied militias in Iraq and Syria.

Western Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US crude oil benchmark, is trading around $72.90 on Tuesday. WTI prices edge higher on the modest decline of US Dollar (USD). The downside of WTI prices might be capped by concerns that tensions in the Middle East and Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine could curb global supplies.

The stronger-than-expected US PMI and Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data might convince the Federal Reserve (Fed) to keep its benchmark rate higher for longer, which would lift the Greenback broadly and exert some selling pressure on WTI prices. The ISM showed on Monday that the US Services PMI rose to 53.4 in January from 50.5 in December.

On the other hand, the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East might cap the downside of oil prices. The United States started retaliatory airstrikes Friday against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and associated forces in Iraq and Syria. The attacks, which targeted over 85 locations, were in reaction to the deaths of three US servicemen in a drone strike by Iranian insurgents