Oil steady as halt to polish pipeline supply offsets rate fears
BNN Bloomberg
Oil steadied as traders weighed the prospects for tighter U.S. monetary policy against optimism for a demand recovery in China and supply disruption in Europe.
West Texas Intermediate held above US$76 a barrel, after earlier dropping as much as one per cent. Poland's largest oil company, PKN Orlen SA, unexpectedly stopped receiving crude via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia. Still, traders remain anxious that still-elevated U.S. inflation will compel the Fed to go on raising rates. That may aid the dollar, trigger a U.S. recession, and hurt commodities.
Crude has traded within a tight US$10 range so far this year as investors weigh a welter of conflicting forces, including the outlook for supplies from Russia, China's reopening, and the trajectory of monetary policy. The market's prospects will come into focus over the coming days as traders congregate in London for International Energy Week, one of the industry's marquee events.
