The oil debtors started the week in the middle position almost since there was no significant dynamic during the week’s geopolitics in the Middle East against the signs of weaker demand from China.
On Monday morning, the Spotlighting Brent crude benchmark hovered near $82 per barrel, and US crude WTI roved to $78, treating the US petroleum market as a hotspot of worldwide issues.
The contracts ended last week, and their performance was severely affected by the release of China’s economic data for December last year – the world’s largest oil trader in the global arena.
However, the upside was limited by tensions in other oil regions as Brent fell below the $80 mark. The turmoil in Gaza remains one of the key subjects investors observe to check for an increase in tension that could lead to the disruption of oil supplies in the Middle East.
The ceasefire agreement expected to end the conflict has not come into effect so far.
On the supply side, production reductions initiated by OPEC+ are still setting the bottom line for prices. Twitter: The Saudi-led group continued the additional reductions of 2.2 million barrels per day into the second quarter beginning in April.
The supply-demand juxtaposition could remain relatively tight as markets recover due to demand recovery in the seasonal phases.
Last week’s US mortgage application data are messy, and traders are assessing the likelihood of interest rates rising.
Whereas employment advanced rapidly, the jobless rate increased, and average earnings growth decelerated. Such an action delays the rate cut expectation, which means that the Fed’s interest rate could still be cut during June or even later.
The rise of geopolitical jitters in the Red Sea also put in mint as drones were parried at the same time there were tensions between the Houthi rebels and the multi-national naval force of US-UK-France.
The Houthis are, based on this, showing their sympathy with the Palestinians by being part of the aggression on their ships.
To sum up, this week’s market is a twitchy green on older people. Of course, a lot depends on whether there will be further escalation of the confrontations in the Middle East or, on the contrary, a revival of Chinese demand as a first-rate importer, one of the currently most powerful factors in consumption worldwide.
As concerns convey, OPEC+’s component countries keep supplying at a stable level, thus holding oil prices down to around $80 per barrel.
