Oil prices dip to settle at 3-week low on US and China economic concerns
Losses were limited by optimism US trade deals could boost global economic growth and oil demand in the future.
Brent crude futures fell 74 cents, or 1.1 percent, to settle at $68.44, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 87 cents, or 1.3 percent, to settle at $65.16.
Those were the lowest settlement levels for Brent since July 4 and WTI since June 30.
For the week, Brent was down about 1 percent with WTI down about 3 percent.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet US President Donald Trump on Sunday in Scotland. European Union officials and diplomats said they expected to reach a framework trade deal this weekend.
The euro zone economy has remained resilient to the pervasive uncertainty caused by a global trade war, a slew of data showed on Friday, even as European Central Bank policymakers appeared to temper market bets on no more rate cuts.
In the US, new orders for US-manufactured capital goods unexpectedly fell in June while shipments of those products increased moderately, suggesting business spending on equipment slowed considerably in the second quarter.
Trump said he had a good meeting with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and got the impression that the head of the US central bank might be ready to lower interest rates.
Lower interest rates reduce consumer borrowing costs and can boost economic growth and demand for oil.
In China, the world's second-biggest economy, fiscal revenue dipped 0.3 percent in the first six months from a year earlier, the finance ministry said, maintaining the rate of decline seen between January and May.
Growing supplies?
The US is preparing to allow partners of Venezuela's state-run PDVSA, starting with US oil major Chevron, to operate with limitations in the sanctioned nation, sources said on Thursday.
That could boost Venezuelan oil exports by a little more than 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), news US refiners would welcome, as it would ease tightness in the heavier crude market, ING analysts wrote.
Iran said it would continue nuclear talks with European powers after 'serious, frank, and detailed' conversations on Friday, the first such face-to-face meeting since Israel and the US bombed Iran last month.
Venezuela and Iran are members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Any deal that could increase the amount of oil either sanctioned country could export would boost the amount of crude available to global markets.
OPEC said the joint ministerial monitoring committee (JMMC) scheduled to convene on Monday does not hold decision-making authority over production levels.
Four OPEC+ delegates said an OPEC+ panel is unlikely to alter existing plans to raise oil output when it meets, noting the producer group is keen to recover market share while summer demand is helping to absorb the extra barrels. OPEC+ includes OPEC and allies like Russia.
In Russia, the world's No. 2 crude producer behind the US, daily oil exports from its western ports are set to be around 1.77 million bpd in August, down from 1.93 million bpd in July's plan, Reuters calculations based on data from two sources show.
In the US, energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for the 12th time in 13 weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
9 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
The Tea app was intended to help women date safely. Then it got hacked
Tea, a provocative dating app designed to let women anonymously ask or warn each other about men they'd encountered, rocketed to the top spot on the US Apple App Store this week. On Friday, the company behind the app confirmed it had been hacked: Thousands of images, including selfies, were leaked online. 'We have engaged third-party cybersecurity experts and are working around the clock to secure our systems,' San Francisco-based Tea Dating Advice Inc. said in a statement. The app and the breach highlight the fraught nature of seeking romance in the age of social media. Here's what to know: Tea was meant to help women date safely. Tea founder Sean Cook, a software engineer who previously worked at Salesforce and Shutterfly, says on the app's website that he founded the company in 2022 after witnessing his own mother's terrifying experiences. Cook said they included unknowingly dating men with criminal records and being catfished – deceived by men using false identities. Tea markets itself as a safe way for women to anonymously vet men they might meet on dating apps such as Tinder or Bumble – ensuring that the men are who they say they are, not criminals, and not already married or in a relationship. It's been compared to the Yelp of dating. In an Apple Store review, one woman wrote that she used a Tea search to investigate a man she'd begun talking to and discovered over 20 red flags, including serious allegations like assault and recording women without their consent. She said she cut off communication. 'I can't imagine how things could've gone had I not known,' she wrote. A surge in social media attention over the past week pushed Tea to the No. 1 spot at the US Apple Store as of July 24, according to Sensor Tower, a research firm. In the seven days from July 17-23, Tea downloads shot up 525 percent compared to the week before. Tea said in an Instagram post that it had reached 4 million users. Tea has been criticized for invading men's privacy. A female columnist for The Times of London newspaper who signed into the app on Thursday called Tea a 'man-shaming' site and complained that 'this is simply vigilante justice entirely reliant on the scruples of anonymous women.' 'With Tea on the scene, what man would ever dare date a woman again?' It's unclear what legal recourse an aggrieved man might have if he feels he's been defamed or had his privacy violated on Tea or a similar social media platform. In May, a federal judge in Illinois threw out an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit by a man who'd been criticized by women in the Facebook chat group 'Are We Dating the Same Guy,' Bloomberg Law reported. The breach exposed thousands of selfies and photo IDs. In its statement, Tea reported that about 72,000 images were leaked online, including 13,000 images of selfies or photo identification that users submitted during account verification. Another 59,000 images that were publicly viewable in the app from posts, comments, and direct messages were also accessed, according to the company's statement. No email addresses or phone numbers were exposed, the company said, and the breach only affects users who signed up before February 2024. 'At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that additional user data was affected. Protecting Tea users' privacy and data is our highest priority,' Tea said. It said users did not need to change their passwords or delete their accounts. 'All data has been secured.'
Saudi Gazette
2 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Trump says Cambodia and Thailand agree to begin ceasefire talks
EDINBURGH — U.S. President Donald Trump announced Saturday that Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to begin immediate ceasefire negotiations following three days of deadly cross-border fighting. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: 'Both Parties are looking for an immediate Ceasefire and Peace ... They have agreed to immediately meet and quickly work out a Ceasefire and, ultimately, PEACE.' The U.S. president, currently on a visit to Scotland, said he spoke by phone with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thailand's acting prime minister in a bid to broker a truce. 'Thailand, like Cambodia, wants to have an immediate Ceasefire, and PEACE. I am now going to relay that message back to the Prime Minister of Cambodia,' he wrote in another post, adding, 'After speaking to both Parties, Ceasefire, Peace, and Prosperity seems to be a natural. We will soon see!' Trump, who returned to the White House six months ago, linked his diplomatic push to ongoing U.S. trade negotiations with both countries. 'We happen to be, by coincidence, currently dealing on Trade with both Countries, but do not want to make any Deal, with either Country, if they are fighting — And I have told them so!' He added that trade talks would resume only once the fighting stops: 'They are also looking to get back to the 'Trading Table' with the United States, which we think is inappropriate to do until such time as the fighting STOPS.' The president compared the Cambodia–Thailand crisis to past tensions in South Asia, stating, 'Many people are being killed in this War, but it very much reminds me of the Conflict between Pakistan and India, which was brought to a successful halt.' Trump's announcement follows a statement Friday by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who said both sides had agreed to a ceasefire proposal. Cambodia has officially supported the initiative, while Thailand has said it agrees in principle. — Agencies
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Trump says Japan will invest $550 billion in US at his direction. It may not be a sure thing
President Donald Trump is bragging that Japan has given him, as part of a new trade framework, $550 billion to invest in the United States. It's an astonishing figure but still subject to negotiation and perhaps not the sure thing he's portraying. 'Japan is putting up $550 billion in order to lower their tariffs a little bit,' Trump said Thursday. 'They put up, as you could call it, seed money. Let's call it seed money.' He said 90 percent of any profits from the money invested would go to the US, even if Japan had put up the funds. 'It's not a loan or anything, it's a signing bonus,' the Republican president said on the trade framework that lowered his threatened tariff from 25 percent to 15 percent, including on autos. A White House official said the terms are being negotiated and nothing has been formalized in writing. The official, who insisted on anonymity to detail the terms of the talks, suggested the goal was for the $550 billion fund to make investments at Trump's direction. The sum is significant: It would represent more than 10 percent of Japan's entire gross domestic product. The Japan External Trade Organization estimates that direct investment into the US economy topped $780 billion in 2023. It is unclear the degree to which the $550 billion could represent new investment or flow into existing investment plans. What the trade framework announced Tuesday has achieved is a major talking point for the Trump administration. The president has claimed to have brought trillions of dollars in new investment into the US, though the impact of those commitments have yet to appear in the economic data for jobs, construction spending, or manufacturing output. The framework also enabled Trump to say other countries are agreeing to have their goods taxed, even if some of the cost of those taxes are ultimately passed along to US consumers. On the $550 billion, Japan's Cabinet Office said it involves the credit facility of state-affiliated financial institutions such as Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Further details would be decided based on the progress of the investment deals. Japanese trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa, upon returning to Japan, did not discuss the terms of the $550 billion investment. Akazawa said he believes a written joint statement is necessary, at least on working levels, to avoid differences. He is not thinking about a legally binding trade pact. The US apparently released its version of the deal while Japanese officials were on their return flight home. 'If we find differences of understanding, we may have to point them out and say that's not what we discussed,' Akazawa said. The US administration said the fund would be invested in critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, computer chips, and shipbuilding, among other industries. It has said Japan will also buy 100 airplanes from Boeing and rice from US farmers as part of the framework, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said would be evaluated every three months. 'And if the president is unhappy, then they will boomerang back to the 25 percent tariff rates, both on cars and the rest of their products. And I can tell you that I think at 25, especially in cars, the Japanese economy doesn't work,' Bessent told Fox News' 'The Ingraham Angle.' Akazawa denied that Bessent's quarterly review was part of the negotiations. 'In my past eight trips to the United States, during which I held talks with the president and the ministers,' Akazawa said, 'I have no recollection of discussing how we ensure the implementation of the latest agreement between Japan and the United States.' He said it would cause major disruptions to the economy and administrative processes if the rates first rise to 25 percent, as scheduled on August 1, and then drop to 15 percent. 'We definitely want to avoid that, and I believe that is the understanding shared by the US side,' he said. On buying US rice, Japanese officials have said they have no plans to raise the current 770,000-ton minimum access cap to import more from America. Agricultural Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Japan will decide whether to increase US rice imports and that Japan is not committed to a fixed quota. Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, has suggested that the Japanese agreement is putting pressure on other countries, such as South Korea, to strike deals with the US. Trump, who is traveling in Scotland, plans to meet on Sunday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss trade. 'Whatever Donald Trump wants to build, the Japanese will finance it for him,' Lutnick said Thursday on CNBC. 'Pretty amazing.'
