Crude fell afoul of COVID-19 worry in China.....>

OIL: Crude fell afoul of COVID-19 worry in China during Asia-Pac hours, after

WTI and Brent both managed to settle over $1.00 higher on Tuesday, supported by

the uptick in equity markets, as well as strong U.S. retail sales data & fresh

U.S. fiscal stimulus hope (albeit via source reports). The benchmarks now sit

$1.10 & $0.90 below their respective settlement levels, with added pressure

coming on the back of reports surrounding the latest weekly API crude inventory

data, which pointed to a surprise build in headline crude stocks & a decent

build in gasoline stocks, although distillate stocks saw a shallower than

expected build, while stocks at the Cushing hub fell. Elsewhere Tuesday saw an

uptick in the IEA's global crude demand forecast for '20, although the Agency

noted that global crude demand will not fully recover from its COVID-19 hit

until '22. Finally, their were +ve signals re: exports from industry giants

Russia & Saudi. The former saw another fall in crude export loadings in the

Urals, while Saudi crude exports to the U.S. hit the lowest level in at least 35

years. Focus Wednesday falls on the latest DoE inventory report as well as the

OPEC+ committee conferences.