Commodities and Futures News

Oil prices steady as markets weigh weak China data, tighter crude supplies

2023.08.15 20:39


© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)’s Dalian Petrochemical Corp refinery is seen near the downtown of Dalian in Liaoning province, China July 17, 2018. REUTERS/Chen Aizhu/File Photo

By Arathy Somasekhar

(Reuters) – Oil prices held steady in early trading on Wednesday after a 1% drop in the previous session, as markets weighed weak economic data from China, the world’s biggest oil importer, against tightening supplies.

futures rose 3 cents to $84.92 a barrel at 0001 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) rose 5 cents $81.04. Both benchmarks had weakened to their lowest since Aug. 8 on Tuesday.

Supporting prices in early trade, U.S. crude stocks dropped by about 6.2 million barrels last week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures. That was a much bigger draw than the 2.3 million drop analysts polled by Reuters expected.

U.S. government data on inventories is due later on Wednesday. [EIA/S]

Weighing on the market, China’s economic activity data for July released on Tuesday, including retail sales, industrial output and investment, failed to match expectations, fuelling concern over a deeper, longer-lasting slowdown in growth.

Beijing cut key policy rates to shore up activity, but analysts say more support is needed to revitalise growth.

The July activity data has prompted some economists to flag risks that China, the world’s biggest oil importer, may struggle to meet its growth target of about 5% for the year without more fiscal stimulus.

Meanwhile, stronger-than-expected retail sales data in the United States, the world’s top oil consumer, stoked worries that interest rates could stay higher for longer.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari on Tuesday said that while the U.S. central bank has made some progress in its inflation fight, interest rates may still need to go higher to finish the job. High borrowing costs for businesses and consumers could slow economic growth and reduce oil demand.

A report that ratings agency Fitch could downgrade multiple banks also pressured markets.

Supply cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia, part of the OPEC+ group comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies, have pushed up oil prices over the past seven weeks.

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 97,582.15 1.01%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,364.24 0.21%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.06%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 250.63 2.54%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 663.54 0.21%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.40 8.65%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.418664 11.69%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 0.99959 0.04%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.03 3.78%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,354.64 0.16%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.210503 2.69%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.561425 30.64%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 40.83 3.66%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.14 7.71%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000026 7.32%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 4,003.99 0.75%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 97,270.06 1.14%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 8.58 11.48%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 16.99 1.44%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 500.74 5.70%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,372.82 0.39%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.37 6.11%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.00002 8.50%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.71 1.47%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.32 1.64%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 97.85 4.40%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.91 2.92%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 12.17 3.20%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,548.20 0.34%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.148372 0.29%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.22 1.35%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 0.999898 0.10%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.190673 0.15%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.553818 3.00%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 28.55 3.17%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.79 0.33%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 526.51 0.02%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.48 10.80%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.04%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.149747 4.86%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.56 0.23%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 8.89 14.11%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 0.998929 0.14%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.843176 2.53%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.042218 3.06%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000045 12.50%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.65 9.91%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.68 6.09%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 53.71 5.32%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 3.17 7.52%