FX.co ★ Oil Pares Losses

On Thursday, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures rose above $58 per barrel, recovering from losses in the previous session. This uptick was driven by a larger-than-anticipated decline in US crude inventories and initial indications of a potential supply correction. According to government data, crude stockpiles decreased by more than 2 million barrels last week, exceeding the predicted drawdown of 1.7 million barrels. Despite these positive signals, a rise in gasoline prices has raised concerns that demand may not be increasing as the US approaches the summer driving season. Although there was a modest rebound, oil prices remained close to multi-year lows due to the lingering uncertainty over US-China trade negotiations, with both countries being the largest consumers of oil globally. Further pressure came from OPEC+ plans to expedite production increases, while the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged as anticipated and warned of rising economic uncertainty.