2023-08-23 13:44:58
Oil prices fell more than 1% on Wednesday as gloomy global manufacturing data clouded markets ahead of the annual meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, US.
By 1027 GMT, Brent crude fell $1.01, or 1.2%, to $83.02 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude also fell 98 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $78.66. Both benchmarks fell by more than a dollar earlier in the session.
According to “Archyde.com”, manufacturing data released by a group of surveys of purchasing managers’ indices today, Wednesday, shed light on the conditions of economies worldwide.
The results so far are bleak. Japan reported that factory activity contracted for the third consecutive month in August. Business activity in the Eurozone also fell more than expected, especially in Germany. Meanwhile, the British economy appears to be on its way to contracting in the current quarter and is at risk of slipping into recession.
US PMI data is expected to be released later on Wednesday.
“What should interest oil watchers is that all of the manufacturing PMI forecasts are below the 50-point threshold,” said John Evans of oil brokerage PVM. “They are all in contraction territory.”
“The readings below expectations will once once more raise concerns regarding lower demand for oil,” he added.
Markets are also awaiting hints regarding the path of interest rates when Federal Reserve officials and policy makers from the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan head to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for an annual meeting on Thursday.
Crude oil inventories continued to decline in the United States, as market sources said, quoting data from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday, that they fell by regarding 2.4 million barrels in the week ending August 18th. That was slightly less than analysts’ expectations in a Archyde.com poll, for a decrease of 2.9 million barrels.
The EIA’s weekly report, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy, is due at 1430 GMT on Wednesday.
1692802342
#Oil #prices #falling #gloomy #manufacturing #data
