WTI crude oil fell 2.36% to settle at $77.29 per barrel in today’s trading session as it extends its losses from yesterday. This can be attributed to demand worries after the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book survey highlighted that higher interest rates are indeed slowing down the economy. It also doesn’t help that recent comments from James Bullard remained hawkish, indicating that the Federal Reserve has no intentions of cutting rates anytime soon.
To add to the uncertainty, yesterday’s inventory reports came in mixed. Indeed, gasoline inventory increased by 1.3 million barrels versus an expected decline of 1.5 million. In addition, although crude inventories fell more than expected, that is mostly attributable to the end of maintenance season.
Unsurprisingly, the United States Oil Fund (USO) is trading 2.41% lower as we head into the stock market’s close.
On the other hand, natural gas finished 1.22% higher as it closed at $2.249 per MMBtu. Here is a list of energy stocks that can be influenced by the latest developments in the energy markets.
