Oil prices ended stable this Tuesday April 4 after jump more than 6% on the previous wheel, motivated by OPEC+ announcements to further cut its production. It comes from scoring three days of raises and moves away from its minimums in more than a year reached last month.
“Investors weighed OPEC+ plans to further cut production against weak economic data from the US and China, which could suggest cooling oil demand”the operators said.
Brent crude futures rose 1 cent to $84.94 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled up 29 cents, or 0.4%, at $80.71 a barrel. barrel.
Brent crude and WTI had soared more than 6% on Monday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, rocked markets with the announcement of voluntary production cuts. of 1.16 million barrels per day (bpd) from May to the end of 2023.
The latest commitments bring the total volume of OPEC+ cuts to 3.66 million bpd, including a 2 million barrel cut last October, equivalent to roughly 3.7% of global demand.
OPEC+ production cuts led many analysts to raise their forecasts for the price of Brent crude to around $100 a barrel by the end of the year.
The plunge in US manufacturing activity in March to its lowest level in almost three years and weak manufacturing activity in China last month raised concerns about oil demand.
Investors are also concerned about rising costs for businesses and consumers.which raises fears that an inflationary impact on the world economy derived from higher oil prices will translate into more interest rate hikes.
Stock markets also fell after data suggested a cooling off in the US job market.
Market watchers have been trying to gauge how much longer the US Federal Reserve will need to keep raising rates to cool inflation, and whether the US economy may be headed for recession.
Investors now see a 40% chance that the Federal Reserve will raise rates a quarter basis point in May, with a 60% chance of a pause.
Source: Ambito
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