Benchmarks Recoup Some Of Wednesday's Fall, But Still Down For The Week

Oil benchmarks sit marginally above Wednesday session lows. Front month Brent was last near $77.10/bbl, while WTI was near $71.65/bbl. This is a gain of around 0.40%, but only partially offsets the more than 1% drop recorded for Wednesday's session. Moreover, we remain below end Friday levels from last week as well.

• Wednesday's move lower was driven by an unexpected build in US crude stocks. EIA Weekly US Petroleum Summary - w/w change week ending Jan 05: Crude stocks +1,338 vs Exp -199, Crude production 0, SPR stocks +606, Cushing stocks -506.
• Market expectations had been skewed the other way and the stock build helped offset renewed concerns around Red Sea tensions.
• Today's gain is in line with a slightly better risk appetite tone, with Asia Pac and US equity futures rising, while the USD has also been softer.