Oil prices settle slightly higher but supply glut concerns keep lid on gains
Investing.com — Oil prices settled slightly higher Monday, attempting to steady from the longest drop in five years as investors awaited further catalysts this week as central banks including the Federal Reserve are set to deliver updates on monetary policy.
By 14:30 ET (19:30 GMT), West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled up 0.13% at $71.32 a barrel, while Brent oil futures expiring in February settled up 0.25% at $76.03 a barrel. Crude prices were nursing seven straight weeks of losses, the longest losing streak in five years.
Major moves in oil were limited before a string of key central bank meetings and economic readings this week.
The Fed is tipped to keep borrowing costs steady at a range of 5.25% to 5.50% when policymakers gather for their final two-day meeting of 2023 this week, meaning that special attention will likely be focused on comments from Chair Jerome Powell. Powell, who has stressed that the Fed will only move «carefully,» is expected to attempt to give the bank some flexibility with its upcoming decisions.
Prior to the end of the gathering, Fed officials will have the chance to pour through U.S. inflation data for November, as they try to gauge the impact of a long-standing and unprecedented campaign of rate hikes on price gains.
Beyond the Fed, interest rate decisions from the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank are also due this week.
Global monetary conditions are likely to remain tight well into next year, which could temper economic growth and weigh on crude demand.
Concerns that global crude supplies could outpace demand continued to weigh sentiment as recent pledges by OPEC and its allies, or OPEC+, to cut production by about 2.2 million barrels per
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