Oil prices fell for the third session in a row – today, Wednesday – amid expectations that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) will keep interest rates high for a longer period due to continued inflation.
Market sources said – citing data from the American Petroleum Institute yesterday, Tuesday – that prices were also affected by the rise in crude oil and gasoline inventories in the United States last week, despite expectations of a decline.
Benefit
Brent crude futures fell 42 cents, or 0.52%, to $82.45, at the time of reporting, and US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 0.42 cents, or 0.8%, to $78.01.
The two benchmarks lost more than 1% earlier in the session.
Oil fell 1% at the end of trading yesterday, Tuesday.
US Central Bank officials said yesterday that the bank must wait several more months to ensure that inflation actually returns to the target path of 2% before any interest cuts.
stay tuned
Higher borrowing costs could slow economic growth, thus reducing demand for oil.
Investors are awaiting the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting and the latest official data on US oil inventories from the Energy Information Administration scheduled to be issued later on Wednesday, after the American Petroleum Institute data.
