21.09.2024. / 14:14
NEW YORK – Oil prices on the American market fell on Saturday morning, so WTI oil, the benchmark for the American market, was $71.00, and Brent oil was $74.49 per barrel, Oil Price reported.
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Oil prices remained above $74 on Friday, as traders try to assess whether interest rates in the United States (US) will boost economic activity and energy demand and remove signs of weakness in the labor market.
On the London market, the price of a barrel was 32 cents lower after noon than at the previous close of trade and amounted to $74.56. By almost the same amount, the barrel became cheaper on the American market, where it was traded at $71.65, reports Mina.
Traders focused on lower borrowing costs in the US at the end of the week.
The American central bank lowered interest rates by half a percentage point, to 4.75 to five percent, and hinted that it could lower them by another half a percentage point by the end of the year, with a message from the president of the Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell. , that the fight against inflation is over.
Interest rate cuts typically boost economic activity and energy demand, but some analysts believe the Fed actually decided to ease monetary policy because of signs of weakness in the labor market.
In the report, the officials of the central bank raised the estimate of the unemployment rate this year from four to 4.4 percent, and they estimate that it will remain above four percent in the long term. In July, it was 4.3 percent and was the highest since October 2021.
“It takes time for reduced interest rates to support economic activity and demand for oil,” explained Đovani Staunovo from UBS.
And data from China is holding back the oil markets. Processing in Chinese refineries slowed down in August for the fifth month in a row, and industrial production and retail sales also slowed down.
Prices were supported by a drop in inventories in the US last week of 1.6 million barrels, according to data from the Ministry of Energy.
Traders are also concerned about supplies due to the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, following the explosion of thousands of pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday, which, according to currently available data, killed 12 people and injured more than 2,700. Israel is believed to have carried out the attack, but Tel Aviv has not officially claimed responsibility.
On Wednesday, walkie-talkies also exploded, bringing the number of dead to 37, and the number of wounded to several thousand.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah announced on Friday that it had carried out several rocket attacks on targets in Israel. Hours later, the Israeli military announced it had carried out a “targeted attack” on Beirut, without giving details.
The Middle East produces a third of the world’s oil.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) separately announced that a barrel of its members’ oil basket rose $1.5 to $75.15 on Thursday. Biznis.rs
Source: www.capital.ba
