Crude oil futures drops amid US Federal rate cut projections
Crude oil futures traded lower on Thursday morning after the US Federal Reserve projected a slower pace of interest rate cuts in 2025.
At 9.54 am on Thursday, February Brent oil futures were at $73.01, down by 0.52 per cent, and January crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $69.64, down by 1.33 per cent.
January crude oil futures were trading at ₹5942 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹5989, down by 0.78 per cent, and February futures were trading at ₹5930 against the previous close of ₹5977, down by 0.79 per cent.
As expected, the US Federal Reserve implemented an interest rate cut of 25 basis points on Wednesday. At the end of the two-day meeting on Wednesday, the US Central bankers projected they would make just two interest rate cuts of 25 basis points each in 2025.
Reduction in interest rates makes dollar-denominated commodities such as crude oil cheaper, boosting its demand in the world market. However, US Fed’s projection of fewer rate cuts created apprehensions about the potential impact on crude oil prices in the global market.
Meanwhile, the official data from the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) showed decline in crude oil inventories in the US for the week ending December 13.
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According to US EIA, the US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.9 million barrels for the week ending December 13, from the previous week. At 421 million barrels, US crude oil inventories were about 6 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 2.3 million barrels from last week and were about 3 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total products supplied in the US over the last four-week period averaged 20.4 million barrels a day, up by 1.3 per cent from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.7 million barrels a day, up by 2.1 per cent from the same period last year.
US crude oil imports averaged 6.6 million barrels a day last week, an increase of 665,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.5 million barrels a day, 2.1 per cent less than the same four-week period last year.
December copper futures were trading at ₹798.30 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹808.45, down by 1.26 per cent.
- Read also: US interest rate hike not on the horizon, says Jerome Powell
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), January castoseed contracts were trading at ₹6332 in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹6313, up by 0.30 per cent.
April turmeric (farmer polished) futures were trading at ₹13730 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹13806, down by 0.55 per cent.
