Oil prices are declining Friday morning, falling for the fourth consecutive session on fears of too aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve (Fed).
Brent May futures on London’s ICE Futures Exchange stood at $81.14 a barrel by 7:17 a.m., down $0.45 (0.55%) from the previous session’s close. Those contracts fell by $1.07 (1.3%) to $81.59 per barrel at the close of trading on Thursday.
The price of WTI crude futures for April at electronic trades of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $75.12 per barrel by that time, which is $0.6 (0.79%) lower than the final value of the previous session. The contract fell by $0.94 (1.2%) to $75.72 per barrel on Thursday.
The main negative factor for the oil market this week was Fed President Jerome Powell’s “hawkish” comments admitting a possibility of hiking interest rates. Investors fear that the Fed’s tough policy may lead to a recession in the U.S., which in turn will affect demand for fuel in the world’s largest economy.
“Oil is under pressure again because of fears of Fed rate hikes,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.
On Friday, the U.S. labor market report for February will be released, which could influence the opinion of U.S. central bank governors. Analysts polled by Trading Economics predict it will point to maintaining unemployment at 3.4% and an increase of 205,000 jobs in the U.S. economy.
