Investing.com – Oil prices remained within a narrow range in early Asian trade on Wednesday, having fallen sharply in the previous session as the market weighed a draw in U.S. crude inventories and concerns over slowing economic growth this year.
As of press time, the price of China has risen by 0.26% to US$80.81/barrel, while the price of China has also risen by 0.42% to US$77.39/barrel. On Tuesday, however, the front-month contracts for both futures fell more than 2%, trading near their lowest levels since early March. Earlier this month, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) unexpectedly announced production cuts, however, the crude oil market has now given up most of its gains.
U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 6.08 million barrels in the week ended April 21, well above expectations for a drop of 1.67 million barrels, the data showed.
The API data, which usually provides some clues for later in the day, points to tightening crude supplies in the world‘s largest oil consumer, the United States. Still, the draw in gasoline inventories also showed some resilience in fuel demand, especially as weather conditions improved.
However, signs of tightening U.S. supply still largely offset investor concerns about an economic slowdown, with a string of weak corporate earnings and U.S. economic data showing the growing impact of high interest rates on the country’s economy. big.
It’s also worth noting that renewed fears of a U.S. banking crisis have also weighed on sentiment, with regional bank First Republic Bank (NYSE: ) seeing a sharp outflow of deposits that analysts warn could cripple the entire economy. The banking sector is under pressure. The incident heightened concerns that a slowdown in the U.S. economy could significantly dampen oil demand this year.
Finally, in overnight trade, firmer demand rose amid rising safe-haven demand, which also weighed on crude oil prices on Wednesday. A stronger dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for international buyers, dampening demand.
At present, the focus of the market is entirely on the Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting scheduled to be held next week, and the market generally expects the Fed to raise interest rates by 25 basis points at the meeting. Meanwhile, any signal from the Fed on the path of its monetary policy meeting will be closely watched by the market.
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(Translation: Li Shanwen)