A barrel of Brent crude was trading at less than $95 a barrel on Thursday. Oil thus became four dollars cheaper, including September futures. North American WTI crude oil approached $91.
The looming US recession
Investors are increasingly worried about the dramatic interest rate hike that the US central bank, the Fed, is likely to make in less than two weeks. Concerns intensified after consumer and industrial price data were released shortly after each other. Investors thus increasingly perceive the risk of the US economy entering a recession, which could also have an impact on the global economy and thus on demand for black gold.
Investors are worried about rising inflation
Inflation in the US rose above 9% in June, the highest since 1981. Industrial producer prices rose by 11.3 percent year-on-year in the same month, which was 0.4 percentage point higher than in May. On a month-on-month basis, industrial prices also rose faster in June than in May, by 1.1% (up from 0.9% in May). The Federal Reserve is thus likely to raise rates by three-quarters to one percentage point.
