West Texas Crude Oil (WTI) contracts in New York closed negative on Thursday (Sept. 21), with the market pressured by concerns that high interest rates could affect the economy and oil demand. However, WTI oil prices closed slightly lower. This was because news of Russia announcing the suspension of oil exports around the world was a factor supporting the market during the day.
The WTI crude oil contract will be delivered in October. fell 3 cents, or about 0.1%, to close at $89.63/barrel.
The Brent crude oil contract (BRENT) will be delivered in November. fell 23 cents, or 0.3%, to close at $93.30 a barrel.
In the beginning, the prices of WTI and Brent oil rose. Responding to the news that Russia has announced a temporary suspension of exports of gasoline and diesel to all countries around the world. It comes into effect immediately to stabilize the Russian domestic fuel market.
But oil prices weakened later. Because investors are worried that The Fed has signaled that interest rates will be held at a high level for a long time. It will affect the economy and the demand for oil. The Fed decided to maintain short-term interest rates at 5.25-5.50% at its meeting on Wednesday. But in forecasting the policy interest rate (Dot Plot), Fed officials signaled another interest rate hike by the end of this year. and signaled only 2 interest rate cuts in 2024, from the Fed’s original forecast that it would cut interest rates more than 2 times next year.
John Kilduff, an analyst at Again Capital LLC in New York, said: Strong US labor data is another factor that may encourage the Fed to hold interest rates high for a longer period.
The US Department of Labor revealed that Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell 20,000 to 201,000 last week. This is the lowest level since January. 2023 and lower than analysts’ estimates of 225,000.
2023-09-21 23:58:53
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