Crude Lower As Markets See Tensions Easing

Oil prices have eased during APAC trading as risk appetite improved on the back of the assessment that the risk of an escalation in the Middle East has been reduced but markets remain alert to any change in this detente. WTI is down 0.8% to $81.60/bbl, close to the intraday low of $81.43. It reached a high of $82.11 early in the session. Brent is 0.7% lower at $86.65, after a low of $86.45 and high of $87.15.

• New sanctions against Iran were included in the foreign aid bill passed by the US House on the weekend. It will extend measures to include ships and refineries that process and transport Iranian crude. It will also cover all financial transactions for the purchase of oil products between China’s financial institutions and Iranian banks facing sanctions.
• EU foreign ministers will discuss additional sanctions on Iran at their meeting today.
• Later the Chicago Fed activity index for March, and the ECB’s Lagarde and BoE’s Benjamin speak. Key US data, including Q1 GDP and March core PCE prices, are released this week.