Oil retreated from a two-week high as the Federal Reserve dimmed hopes for more U.S. interest rate cuts, countering a seventh weekly decline in American crude stockpiles.
Futures slumped as much as 2% in New York, snapping five days of gains. While the Fed cut rates for the first time in a decade, Chairman Jerome Powell said it wasn’t the start of an extended cycle of monetary-policy easing to protect the economy. U.S. crude inventories fell by 8.5 million barrels last week, more than triple the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
West Texas Intermediate for September delivery lost 94 cents, or 1.6%, to $57.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 9:25 a.m. Singapore time. The contract rose 53 cents on Wednesday, capping a 0.2% gain for July.
Source: Bloomberg