The oil prices Stocks traded broadly flat in early Thursday as investors took profits from earlier gains, driven by a bigger-than-expected decline in crude oil inventories. USA.
The futures of the Brent rose 3 cents to $85.11 a barrel, while U.S. crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 3 cents to $82.82. Both posted gains in the previous session.
The number of Americans who filed new applications for unemployment benefits unemployment rose more than expected last week, while initial claims for aid rose 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 243,000 in the week ended July 1.
The data reinforced the arguments in favor of the Federal Reserve accelerate its rate-cutting plans, which could spur more oil spending.
“I think the positive expectations of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in the not too distant future will limit the declines,” he told Reuters. Tamas Varga, from the oil broker PVM.
The icrude oil inventories In the United States, the world’s largest consumer of oil, crude oil production fell by 4.9 million barrels last week, data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showed on Wednesday. Energy Information Administration. This figure exceeds the 30,000 barrel decline expected by analysts in a Reuters poll and the 4.4 million barrel drop in a report by the American Petroleum Institute.
The prospects for rate cuts in both the United States and Europe in the following months helped to support the market.
In this regard, officials of the Federal Reserve (Fed) The Fed said Wednesday that it is closer to cutting rates amid an improving inflation trajectory and a more balanced labor market, which could set the stage for a rate cut in September.
On the other hand, the European Central Bank (ECB) kept rates unchanged, as expected, although its next move is likely to be a cut.
However the Chinese economic growth remains a cause for concern. Chinese leaders said Thursday that Beijing The Fed will maintain its economic policy course, although few concrete details were released. All of this helped dampen investors’ hopes for a boost to consumption in the world’s second-largest economy.
Source: Ambito
