Oil prices settle lower, US economic concerns outweigh Fed rate cut

Written by Scott Devavino

New York (Reuters) – Oil prices were reduced on Thursday, as they settled as traders remained concerned about US economic expectations a day after reducing interest rates in the Federal Reserve in the United States for the first time this year.

Brent crude contracts fell 51 cents, or 0.8 %, to settle at $ 67.44. The western western crude, Texas Intermediate (WTI), decreased 48 cents, or 0.8 %, to settle at $ 63.57.

The Federal Reserve reduced the policy price by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday and indicated that it will lead to a decrease in borrowing costs steadily during the rest of the year, and in response to signs of weakness in the job market.

Low borrowing costs usually enhance the demand for oil and pay prices higher.

“They have done so now because the economy slowly slows down,” said George Montek, Managing Director of the Unix Capital Group. “The federal reserve is trying to restore growth.”

The number of Americans who submit new requests to obtain unemployment fell last week, reflecting the leap of the previous week, but the labor market has eased while reducing the demand for workers and their offer.

The US house building decreased to one of the isolation to the minimum level of 2-1/2 years in August amid an abundance of indirect new homes, indicating that the housing market may remain as economic winds.

Increased demand and demand for fuel in the United States, the largest oil consumer in the world, has also been weighed on the market.

Crude oil stocks in the United States decreased sharply last week, as net imports fell to the lowest level in the record while exports jumped to the highest levels for two years, data from Energy Information Management showed on Wednesday.

However, the increase in distillation stocks in the United States by 4 million barrels, against market expectations, with an increase of one million barrels, raised concerns about demand for the best oil consumers in the world and pressure. [EIA/S]

Request for concerns compensate for the fears of the offer

In Russia, the second largest producer in the raw world in 2024 after the United States, the Ministry of Finance announced a new procedure to protect the state budget from fluctuations in oil and Western sanctions targeting Russian energy exports.

Ukraine said its drones hit a major complex for oil, petrochemical treatment and oil refinery in Russia, which is part of an intensive campaign to disrupt the oil and gas sector in Moscow.

In an interview, the CEO of Exxon Mobil, Darren Woods, told the Financial Times in an interview that the American oil specialization has no plans to resume operations in Russia.

Anything that keeps Russian barrels outside the international oil market optimistic about prices.

However, the Minister of Oil in Kuwait, Tariq Al -Tarb, said that he expects an increase in demand for oil after lowering the interest rate in the United States, with a special rise in the Asian market.

Kuwait is a member of the organization of oil exporting countries (OPEC).

In Qatar, another member of the state -owned Katener raised the price of the crude oil loading of November in the top in eight months.

In Germany, the largest economy in Europe, parliament has agreed to the first annual budget in the country since the adoption of overwhelming reforms to alleviate the financial rules earlier this year, as it has received record investments to revive the economy while committing to an increase in defensive spending.

In the Middle East, Israel launched new flight strikes against Hezbollah’s military targets in southern Lebanon to prevent the armed group from rebuilding in the region.

(Scott Desapheno was participated in the coverage in New York and Anna Herntstein in London; additional reports by Katia Gulbecova and Sayy Liu in Singapore; edited by Luiz Hefins, Nick Ziminski, Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)