Oil prices pull back on delayed US Fed rate cuts, OPEC output hopes; Brent down 1% to $82/bbl
₹6,495 per bbl, having swung between ₹6,456 and ₹6,598 per bbl during the session, against a previous close of ₹6,514 per barrel. -Analysts attributed the price falls to profit-taking plus a combined response to a surge in US crude stocks and continuing hopes of a Gaza ceasefire deal in coming days.
American Petroleum Institute data showed that US crude stocks showed an 8.43 million barrel build in the week ended February 23 which beat street estimates. -Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman had signalled on Tuesday that she was in no rush to cut US interest rates, particularly given continuing inflation risks.
Higher-for-longer rates could dampen economic growth and suppress demand for oil. -The US economy grew at a robust 3.2 per cent annual pace from October through December, propelled by healthy consumer spending, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday in a slight downgrade from its initial estimate.
-The expansion in the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) — the economy's total output of goods and services — slipped from 4.9 per cent from July through September, according to US government data. -The fourth-quarter GDP numbers were revised down from the 3.3 per cent pace Commerce initially reported last month.
US growth has now topped two per cent for six straight quarters, defying fears that high interest rates would tip the world's largest economy into a recession. -Russian authorities on Tuesday announced a six-month ban on gasoline exports from March 1 to compensate for rising demand from consumers and farmers and to allow for planned refinery maintenance.Milestone Alert!
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