
Oil falls on easing Russia supply concerns after Trump-Putin meet
Brent crude futures dropped 26 cents, or 0.39%, to $65.59 a barrel by 0028 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $62.62 a barrel, down 18 cents, or 0.29%.
U.S. President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday and emerged more aligned with Moscow on seeking a peace deal instead of a ceasefire first.
Trump will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders on Monday to strike a quick peace deal to end Europe's deadliest war in 80 years.
The U.S. president said on Friday he did not immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil but might have to "in two or three weeks", cooling concerns about a disruption in Russian supply.
China, the world's biggest oil importer is the largest Russian oil buyer followed by India.
"What was primarily in play were the secondary tariffs targeting the key importers of Russian energy, and President Trump has indeed indicated that he will pause pursuing incremental action on this front, at least for China," RBC Capital analyst Helima Croft said in a note.
"The status quo remains largely intact for now," Croft said, adding that Moscow will not walk back on territorial demands while Ukraine and some European leaders will balk at the land-for-peace deal.
Investors are also watching Federal Reserve Chairman Colin Powell's comments at the Jackson Hole meeting this week to search for clues on the path of interest rate cuts that could boost stocks to more record highs.
"It's likely he will remain non-committal and data-dependent, especially with one more payroll and CPI (Consumer Price Index) report before the September 17th FOMC meeting," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
13 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
New poll reveals Aussies see Trump as a bigger threat than Xi Jinping
Australians are more afraid of Donald Trump's tariffs than the increasing Chinese military threat, according to a shocking new poll. The Newspoll, conducted between Monday and Thursday last week, revealed greater concern among voters about the US President's unpredictable trade penalties than there was about his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping's westward push. When 1283 Australians were asked to prioritise the two, 42 per cent of voters said US tariffs were more of a concern, while just 37 per cent stated Beijing 's military build-up in the Indo-Pacific region was the more pressing situation. Voters who were neutral on the two global issues stood at 21 per cent, the poll published in The Australian revealed. However, the polling analysis also showed a partisan effect was at play, with Labor and the Greens viewing Trump's tariffs as the bigger threat, while the Coalition and minor party voters saw China as the more dangerous issue. Trumps tariffs triggered 55 per cent of Labor voters and 60 per cent of Greens voters, but just 29 per cent of Coalition and minor party voters. On the other hand, China's military muscle worried 50 per cent of Coalition supporters and 49 per cent of minor party supporters, but just 26 per cent and 22 per cent of Labor and Greens voters respectively. The poll also revealed that, for the first time since September 2023, more Australians are satisfied with Anthony Albanese's performance than not. The primary votes of the Coalition and One Nation improved by one point to 30 and nine per cent, respectively, since last month's first post-election Newspoll. Labor remained at 36 per cent and holds a two-party-preferred vote over the Coalition at 56 to 44 per cent. The Prime Minister's personal popularity has returned to levels not seen since the cost-of-living crisis and voice referendum led to a slump in his approval ratings. Albanese now has a net approval rating of plus-three, with 49 per cent of voters satisfied with the Labor leader's performance and 46 per cent dissatisfied. He has not been in positive territory since September 2023, when he recorded 47 per cent and 44 per cent satisfaction and dissatisfaction ratings. The Prime Minister's current rating is the highest it's been since July 2023, when 52 per cent of voters rated his performance positively. Sussan Ley, who took over as leader of the Coalition following Peter Dutton's departure, has seen her performance ratings drop since last month's poll. She had a net approval rating of minus-seven last month, similar to Dutton's levels following the 2022 election. However, Ley has seen the gap widen to minus-nine. After the election, the Coalition experienced its worst result for the Liberal/Nationals parties since Newspoll first compared primary vote levels in November 1985. The first post-election poll had Labor at 36 per cent compared with the Coalition's 29 per cent. Labor won the May 3 election after securing 34.6 per cent of the primary vote.


Daily Mail
13 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Trump U-turns on mail-in voting
Donald Trump is back to bashing mail-in ballots and says he will sign an executive order outlawing the voting method. The president snubbed the expansion of mail-in voting in the 2020 election to accommodate for the pandemic. He said mail-in ballots caused widespread 'fraud' that he claims is to blame for his loss in 2020, and during his 2024 campaign, he repeatedly pushed his supporters to embrace voting by mail. But the pendulum swung again on Monday when the president took to his Truth Social to slam the idea of voting in elections by mail. Trump said he will be 'leaving a movement to get rid of mail-in ballots' and overhaul voting machines that he claims were used by Democrats to steal that 2020 election for Joe Biden . He did not give a timeline for issuance of an executive order on ending the voting method, though it's likely to come before the 2026 midterm elections as Republicans aim to hold onto their majorities in the House and Senate . Trump is meeting on Monday at the White House with European leaders following his high-stakes meeting in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet privately with Trump on Monday. Meanwhile, he kicked off the day by claiming the U.S. is the 'only Country in the World that uses Mail-In Voting.' 'All others gave it up because of the massive voter fraud encountered,' Trump claimed. But many nations use mail-in voting – including countries whose leaders are convening at the White House on Monday. Some countries that have no-excuse mail-in voting, meaning they do not need a reason to vote by mail rather than in person, are Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Spain, and many others. There are also many countries that offer conditional or limited mail-in voting options. Trump, despite pushing mail-in voting and early voting on his supporters in the 2024 election, says that Democrats are using the 'mail-in ballot hoax' because they can't win elections through traditional in-person voting. 'Democrats are virtually unelectable without using this completely disproven mail-in scam,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. He added: 'Elections can never be honest with mail-in ballots/voting, and everybody, in particular the Democrats, knows this.' While there hasn't been widespread proof of fraud in the 2020 election despite a series of investigations on the matter, there are some problems emerging with the method. For example, many Americans reported that deceased relatives were receiving mail-in ballots in the 2020 election.

South Wales Argus
13 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Trump says Zelensky can stop war with Russia ‘almost immediately' ahead of talks
The US president suggested Mr Zelensky would have to accept there was 'no getting back' Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and Ukraine would not be allowed to join the Nato alliance. Sir Keir and other European leaders will seek to persuade Mr Trump not to push for a settlement which rewards Vladimir Putin's aggression and to get US security guarantees for any military peacekeeping force from the so-called 'coalition of the willing'. Those joining Sir Keir include France's Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Friedrich Merz, Italy's Giorgia Meloni and Alexander Stubb, president of Finland. Nato chief Mark Rutte and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are also attending. In a message on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said President Zelensky 'can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight'. He said there would be 'no going into Nato by Ukraine' – keeping its neighbour out of the alliance and its mutual defence pact has been one of Russia's key aims. I'm on my way to Washington D.C. to meet @POTUS, @ZelenskyyUa and other leaders. Here's why: — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) August 18, 2025 But Sir Keir, along with other Nato leaders, has said Ukraine is on an 'irreversible path' to membership of the alliance. Government minister Stephen Kinnock said the 'pathway for Ukraine to Nato' could not be dictated by any other country. The health minister told Times Radio: 'Any decisions taken about Ukrainian territory must be taken with the agreement of the Ukrainian government and President Zelensky. 'The other is that the pathway for Ukraine to Nato and to security guarantees cannot be dictated to them by any other country, and the other is to send a very clear message that we the British people stand firmly shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ukrainian people as we showed when we opened our homes and our hearts to the Ukrainian refugees.' Mr Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff has suggested that measures similar to Nato's Article 5 mutual defence provision could be offered by the US without Kyiv joining the alliance. Mr Witkoff, who took part in the talks between Mr Trump and Russian president Mr Putin last week, said it 'was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that' and called it 'game-changing'. 'We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in Nato,' Mr Witkoff told CNN. Mr Zelensky said any peace deal must be lasting 'not like it was years ago, when Ukraine was forced to give up Crimea and part of our East – part of Donbas – and Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack'. He said: 'Russia must end this war, which it itself started. And I hope that our joint strength with America, with our European friends, will force Russia into a real peace.' I have already arrived in Washington, tomorrow I am meeting with President Trump. Tomorrow we are also speaking with European leaders. I am grateful to @POTUS for the invitation. We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably. And peace must be lasting. Not… — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 18, 2025 At the White House, Mr Zelensky is expecting to face calls from the US president to concede to full Russian control of Donetsk and Luhansk, two mineral-rich regions of Ukraine that are mostly occupied by Vladimir Putin's forces. In exchange for these demands, the Russian president would reportedly withdraw his forces from other areas of Ukraine and accept the Nato-like guarantee designed to prevent him launching further incursions. Ahead of their Oval Office encounter, the allies are likely to be mindful of the previous occasion Mr Zelensky visited Mr Trump in the White House. February's public spat, which saw Vice President JD Vance accuse Mr Zelensky of not being thankful enough to the US, resulted in American aid to Ukraine being temporarily halted. Mr Trump will again host Mr Zelensky in the Oval Office before a separate meeting with the European leaders.