The prices of the oil fell more than a dollar a barrel on Wednesday after the government USA drastically revised downwards a series of statistics employment closely followed by investors.
The futures of the Brent, of reference in Uruguay, closed down $1.15, or 1.49%, at $76.05 a barrel, while U.S. crude prices West Texas Intermediate (WTI) closed down $1.24, or 1.69%, at $71.93.
U.S. employers added far fewer jobs than originally reported in the year through March, the U.S. Department of Labor said on Wednesday. Department of Labor. “The market is now moving from pricing in a stronger economy to a possible hard landing, which is why oil prices are reluctant to rise,” he said. Phil Flynn, Price Futures Group analyst.
The department’s estimate for total wage employment for the period April 2023 to March 2024 was cut by 818,000. “The sting in the scorpion’s tail that hurts more than anything else is that this data helped create a crisis of confidence,” he said. Tim Snyder, chief economist at Matador Economics.
US inventories decline
The data of employment revised prices offset support from a drop in oil inventories from the US and the recently published proceedings of the Federal Reserve indicating a likely rate cut in September.
U.S. crude oil stocks and gasoline and distillate inventories fell in the week ended Aug. 16, the agency said Wednesday. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Crude inventories fell by 4.6 million barrels to 426 million barrels in the week, the EIA said, beating analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a draw of 2.7 million barrels.
Geopolitical risk in the Middle East
Meanwhile, a Greek-flagged oil tanker was adrift in the Red Sea on Wednesday after repeated attacks that sparked a fire on the ship and caused it to lose power, the maritime agency said. United Kingdom.
Houthi militants aligned with Iran have launched a series of attacks against international ships near Yemen since last November in solidarity with the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Red Sea leading to the Suez Canal It is a key route for oil transport, and sustained attacks pose a potential threat to global crude flows.
Meanwhile, the American president Joe Biden planned to speak by phone with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Wednesday on ways to keep alive a potential ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, a U.S. official said.
The call comes after a whirlwind trip by US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken to the Middle East, which ended on Tuesday without an agreement between Israel and militants Hamas on a truce in the Palestinian enclave.
Source: Ambito
