Despite this, oil prices weakened in November, with Brent crude falling to $80.61 a barrel for nearly 11 months on Monday, as protests in China over COVID policies soured the biggest importer’s economic outlook. of oil in the world. Last week, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said OPEC+ was “ready to step in” with further supply cuts if necessary “to balance supply and demand.” request”.
In financial markets, the US dollar lost ground against a basket of foreign currencies to trade near 105.410 after the Fed’s Powell hinted at a slower pace of rate hikes that could come as soon as this this month.
“It makes sense to moderate the pace of our rate increases as we approach the level of restraint that will be sufficient to bring inflation down,” Powell said in a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC on Wednesday afternoon. .
The assessment signaled that the central bank is now poised to move from its steep 75 basis point increases in the federal funds rate to 50 basis points at its Dec. 14 meeting – an adjustment the market has widely anticipated. 75% of investors expect the Federal Open Market Committee to raise the federal funds rate by 50 basis points next month, compared to 25% who are betting on a bigger rate hike. The FOMC has raised rates six times so far this year, four of which have risen by an all-time high of 75 basis points.
By December 14, markets will consider multiple data points to assess the state of the economy, starting with Friday’s jobs report and November’s inflation report due for release. next week.
The labor market is still resilient in the face of rising interest rates, with the latest job vacancies and job turnover summary report showing that new job vacancies remained above 10 million in October, although only down 353,000 from the previous month. Friday’s non-farm payrolls report is expected to show 200,000 new jobs were added in November, down from 261,000 new jobs reported in October, although this is still a rate of growth raised.
Around 7:30 a.m. ET, the January WTI contract advanced $1.20 to $81.78 a barrel. February Brent futures on ICE traded $1.10 higher at $88.06 a barrel. NYMEX January RBOB futures hit $2.4000 gallons, up $1.53 a barrel, and the January ULSD contract edged higher to $3.3672.
Liubov Georges can be reached at [email protected]
