He Texas Intermediate crude oil price (WTI) closed Thursday up 1.47% to $71.95 a barrel, after the Federal Reserve (Fed) cut interest rates by half a point yesterday, but traders are now keeping an eye on tensions in the Middle East.
At the end of the day in the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), WTI futures contracts for October delivery added $1.04 compared to the previous session.
- The FedThe Fed, which has been struggling for months with out-of-control inflation following the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, yesterday set its benchmark interest rate within a range of 4.75% to 5% in its aim to bring inflation close to 2%.
Unlike the dovish response on Wednesday when the Fed taper was announced, the American crude oil Today it responded with an upward trend in its price.
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Middle East
However, operators remain vigilant regarding the possible impact that a regional escalation of hostilities would have on black gold. Middle Eastafter several ‘pagers’ and ‘walkie-talkies’ in the hands of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah exploded in recent hours, causing dozens of deaths.
Iran-backed Hezbollah blames Israel for the operation as part of its offensive in Lebanon amid hostilities with its northern neighbor following the siege of the enclave Palestinian from Gaza.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said yesterday that his country’s attention is shifting from Loop to the northern border with Lebanon, where some 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated, as a “new phase” of the war.
These factors of change in crude oil coincide in a month in which Texas has accumulated losses of 2% due to the fear of operators of a growing imbalance between supply and demand, and with concern about the consumption of oil from China, which is slowing as sales of electric vehicles.
In other markets, the natural gas contracts For October delivery, prices rose today to $2.348 per thousand cubic feet and gasoline contracts for expiration in the same period rose to $2.06 per gallon. EFE
