Crude Continues March Higher, US CPI & IEA Report Out Later

Oil prices are slightly higher during APAC trading today and holding onto Tuesday’s gains while not quite making its highs. The market is seeing the effects of OPEC’s cuts. Brent is up 0.2% to $92.25/bbl after an intraday high of $92.33. Moves below $92 have been very slight and brief. WTI is 0.3% higher at $89.08, close to the high of $89.19. The USD index is flat.

• After OPEC’s monthly report showed the group expecting a crude deficit of 3.3mbd in Q4 2023 but the US’ EIA only forecasting 230kbd, the IEA’s bulletin released later today is likely to be monitored closely.
• Official EIA US inventory data is released later today too. Bloomberg reported that US crude stocks rose 1.17mn barrels in the latest week after a couple of sharp drawdowns, according to people familiar with the API data. But inventories at Cushing fell 2.42mn. Gasoline stocks rose 4.2mn and distillate +2.59mn.
• The focus later is on the US CPI and what it is likely to mean for the Fed. It is expected to rise to 3.6% y/y from 3.2% but core should moderate to 4.3% from 4.7%. There is also the US August budget statement and euro area July IP.