Oil steady ahead of OPEC+ meeting as trade war concerns ease
LONDON - Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday as easing trade war concerns offset expectations OPEC+ will decide to increase output at a meeting later this week.
Brent crude futures were down 28 cents, or 0.4%, at $64.46 a barrel by 1154 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 33 cents, or 0.5%, to $61.20 a barrel.
Easing trade war concerns are lifting prices, but the upside remains limited until it is clear what the OPEC+ will decide on Saturday, said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, will likely finalise July output at their meeting, which sources have previously told Reuters will entail a production increase of 411,000 barrels per day.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday that OPEC+ had yet to discuss hiking output. The group is likely to finalise output quotas in an online ministerial meeting on May 28.
Eight OPEC+ members that had pledged additional voluntary cuts are now expected to meet on May 31, one day earlier than previously scheduled, three sources within the group told Reuters on Monday.
OPEC+ members had already agreed to accelerate oil output increases for a second month in June.
However, U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to extend trade talks with the European Union until July 9 alleviated immediate fears of tariffs that could suppress fuel demand.
Comments by Russia's deputy prime minister and U.S. President Trump's delaying of tariffs against the EU provided support to prices, said PVM analyst Tamas Varga.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that Iran would be able to survive if negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear programme fail to secure a deal.
If nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran fail, it could mean continued sanctions on Iran, which would limit Iranian supply and be supportive of oil prices.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
The rate is in a safe neutral position
The European Central Bank has reduced the interest rate to 2 per cent from 2.25 per cent, and it seems to have completed the cycle of reduction of rates from 4.25 per cent in June 2024. Markets are betting that the central bank would not reduce any further when it meets in July. The rate is now in a neutral position, where it can neither stimulate growth nor serve as a restraint. Bank president Christine Lagarde said at a press conference, 'At the current level we believe we are in a good position to navigate the uncertain circumstances that will be coming up.' She also said that the bank does not have any pre-determined position on the rate path, and it will take things as they turn out. The two major challenges that the European Union (EU) faces is the slow growth in the economy on the continent, and the tariffs that US President Donald Trump had announced on European imports as he did on imports from all American trade partners. European leaders are looking to negotiations but they have taken a firm position that they will not capitulate to the tariff threats of Washington. Because of lower economic growth, inflation is also aligned to the interest rate. There is however no clear monetary strategy to handle the present state of the European economy. The obvious way forward is to lower interest still further – and there is room for that between the existing 2 per cent and zero interest rate – to revive domestic investment demand. The problem that the European economy is facing is the pressure on its exports, which is a major anchor for European economic growth. In the May World Economic Outlook (WEO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that the euro area will grow by 0.8 per cent in 2025 and by 1.2 per cent in 2026. There is 0.2 per cent reduction in the growth projection for the two years since the January 2025 WEO. Though the Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (CESEE) seems to be doing slightly better than the advanced European economies, the projected figures show a slowing down of growth. For CESEE, it shows a growth of 2.4 per cent for 2025, a reduction by 0.6 per cent, and 2.7 per cent in 2026, a reduction by 0.4 per cent from the January projections. Europe's economic woes precede Trump's tariff onslaught. And the reasons are many. One of the major issues is the demography. The ageing population impacts the workforce, and the governments are burdened with social security commitments. It is surprising that the anti-immigrant right-wing parties have been making political headway in the elections across the continent. What Europe needs is an immigration policy to reinforce its workforce, and the skilling of the immigrants to take their place in the factories. But the governments do not have a policy of integrating the immigrants into the workforce. The second major issue is the burden of climate change and the energy transition that many of the EU members are committed to make. The plain fact is that Europe cannot hope to continue with the old fossil fuel-based production processes. The climate change processes involve financial commitments and the results will be slow in showing in terms of cleaning up the air, the rivers, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. And more importantly, the global markets are changing, and the slowdown of exports will affect the European economy more than ever. The challenges that Europe faces are formidable. And the political responses have been quite erratic. The rise of right-wing political parties with their outdated notions that there is no climate change and that immigrants pose a problem to the prosperity of Europe is not really helpful.
The National
3 hours ago
- The National
Wall Street lifted by upbeat US jobs report and Tesla rebound
Wall Street closed higher on Friday, buoyed by a better-than-expected US jobs report and a rebound in Tesla Motors shares, although concern about the Federal Reserve's rates policy remained. The Labour Department reported on Friday that the American economy added 139,000 jobs in May, slower than previous months but beating analyst estimates, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.2 per cent. It also indicated that wages grew at a solid pace, which may mean the Fed is unlikely to cut interest rates – something that US President Donald Trump has demanded from the US central bank. Mr Trump on Thursday increased the pressure on Fed chairman Jerome Powell, urging him to cut interest rates by a full percentage point. Mr Powell so far has resisted the calls from the White House and maintains that policy decisions will be data dependent. He met Mr Trump at the White House last week and was firm that rate decisions will be made 'as required by law'. 'The labour market's resilience puts the Fed in a difficult spot: inflation pressures remain sticky and the cooling many expected simply hasn't materialised in the data that matters most,' said Nigel Green, chief executive of Dubai-based financial services firm deVere Group. 'This report puts another nail in the coffin for any talk of rate cuts in the summer. The Fed has said time and again it needs to see weakness in the labour market to move. This isn't weakness. It's strength with staying power.' Investors also continue to monitor the tariff situation between the US and China. After imposing substantial tit-for-tat levies on imports, the world's two biggest economies agreed to a detente on their trade war on May 12. Talks appear to be progressing: Mr Trump on Thursday spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and on Friday Mr Trump said trade officials from Washington and Beijing will meet in London on Monday to resume discussions. 'Investors couldn't care less. Dips in equity markets are still seen as opportunities to buy cheaper. And while the data is fun to watch, it remains secondary to the blind bullishness,' said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank. 'That's the takeaway from the post – April 2 rally: the world may be wobbling, but markets march on,' she added, referring to the day Mr Trump announced his sweeping global tariffs programme. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both settled 1 per cent higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2 per cent. Tesla, whose stock plummeted 14 per cent on Thursday in response chief executive Elon Musk's escalating public feud with Mr Trump, rebounded to close 3.7 per cent higher. The Texas-based company's shares rose by as much as 6 per cent. For the week, the S&P was up 1.5 per cent, the Dow added 1.2 per cent and the Nasdaq rose 2.2 per cent. Year-to-date, the indices are up 2 per cent, 0.5 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively. In Europe, markets were mostly up after the US jobs report eased fears of an economic slowdown. London's FTSE 100 closed up 0.3 per cent, boosted by banking stocks. Paris' CAC 40 added 0.2 per cent, while Frankfurt's DAX retreated 0.1 per cent. Earlier in Asia, major indices were mixed, with Tokyo's Nikkei 225 adding 0.5 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declining 0.5 per cent and the Shanghai Composite closing flat. In commodities, oil prices jumped nearly 2 per cent on Friday to post their first weekly gain in three weeks amid hopes for a US-China deal on tariffs and the jobs report. Brent rose 1.73 per cent to settle at $66.47 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate closed 1.91 per cent higher at $64.58 a barrel. Gold, meanwhile, fell more than 1 per cent on investor concerns that the US jobs report won't sway the Fed to cut rates soon. The precious metal, a hedge against inflation, declined nearly 1.3 per cent to $3,311.70 an ounce.
The National
3 hours ago
- The National
Iran blasts US travel ban citing 'deep hostility' to Iranians and Muslims
Iran on Saturday said the US travel ban on Iranian citizens and 11 other mostly Middle Eastern and African countries was a sign of a 'racist mentality'. The move, which is expected to take place on June 9, is "a clear sign of the dominance of a supremacist and racist mentality among American policymakers," Alireza Hashemi-Raja, the foreign ministry's director general for the affairs of Iranians abroad said in a statement. The decision "indicates the deep hostility of American decision-makers towards the Iranian and Muslim people", Mr Hashemi-Raja said. US President Donald Trump's decision will bar citizens from 12 countries including Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Mr Trump said the list could be revised and new countries could be added. The ban, which Mr Trump said was necessary to protect against "foreign terrorists", is a similar move he implemented during his first term in office from 2017 to 2021, when he barred travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations. The ban has been justified on national security grounds following a firebomb attack at a pro-Israel rally in Colorado. The alleged attacker, Mohamed Soliman, is from Egypt, which is not on the list. Mr Hashemi-Raja said the policy "violates fundamental principles of international law" and deprives "hundreds of millions of people of the right to travel based solely on their nationality or religion". The foreign ministry official said that the ban was discriminatory and would "entail international responsibility for the US government", without elaborating. Since 1979 Iranian revolution, Washington and Tehran severed diplomatic ties and relations have remained deeply strained since. It is known that the US is home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran. According to figures from Tehran's foreign ministry, there were some 1.5 million Iranians in the US in 2020. Mr Trump enacted a so-called Muslim ban during his first term, barring citizens of several Muslim-majority countries and others from entering the US. Travellers from Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen were barred from entry. The policy went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. Mr Trump has blamed the immigration policies of former president Joe Biden for rising crime in the country, and he has been swift to issue executive orders, cracking down on people entering the country illegally.
