Prices for benchmark crude oil are slightly declining on Friday morning after falling during the previous session.
The cost of July futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 8:14 a.m. is $81.75 per barrel, which is 11 cents lower than at the close of the previous trading. On Thursday, these contracts fell by $1.74 (2.1%) to $81.86 per barrel.
Futures for WTI for July in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) fell by $0.23 (0.3%) to $77.68 per barrel by this time. The day before, futures fell by $1.32 (1.7%) to $77.91 per barrel.
Pressure on the quotes was exerted by a general decline in investor interest in risky assets, which also led to a decline in US stock indices and an increase in US government bond yields.
“The US economy remains resilient, and inflation remains a concern. Under such conditions, the Federal Reserve has the ability to keep rates high for a long time, which is bad for oil demand forecasts and puts pressure on prices,” said Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades.
Even the data that commercial oil stocks in the US fell by 4.16 million barrels last week, while experts expected a decline of 1.15 million barrels, failed to support the market.
Meanwhile, gasoline stocks increased by 2.02 million barrels and distillate stocks by 2.54 million barrels. Analysts had forecast a decrease in gasoline stocks by 1.5 million barrels and the same level of distillate stocks.
