Brent oil lower; global slowdown concerns grow
Investing.com — Global oil benchmark Brent weakened Wednesday on renewed worries of a global economic slowdown, overshadowing the news earlier this week of more supply cuts from a series of top producers.
By 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT), the Brent contract dropped 0.3% to $76.02, while U.S. crude futures traded 1.9% higher at $71.12 a barrel, having traded through a U.S. holiday to mark Independence Day without a settlement.
Data from a private survey, released earlier Wednesday, showed China's services activity expanded at the slowest pace in five months in June, the latest evidence of a faltering post-pandemic recovery in the world's largest crude importer.
Additionally, eurozone business activity slipped into contractionary territory last month in a broad-based downturn, suggesting this economy will struggle to register significant growth after falling into recession in the first quarter of the year.
Yet, despite this economic weakness, the European Central Bank is widely expected to continue its rate-hiking cycle when it next meets later this month.
The Federal Reserve’s next policy decision is more open to debate after it paused its year-long tightening cycle in June.
That said, the central bank policymakers signaled the likelihood of two more hikes this year, and this brings the release of the Fed minutes of the June meeting firmly into focus as traders look for further clues on the U.S. central bank's outlook.
The week had started on a more positive note as top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia, as well as Algeria, had agreed to cut supplies further into August in an attempt to boost oil prices.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told a conference on Wednesday that the cooperation between Russia and Saudi
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