Holding Tuesday Losses Ahead Of Key US Event Risks

Brent crude sits close to unchanged in the first part of Wednesday dealing. We were last close to $89.45/bbl, just up from end Tuesday levels in NY. It's a similar backdrop for WTI, with the front month contract near $85.30/bbl. This follows falls in Tuesday trade of a little over 1% for both benchmarks.

• BBG noted that industry sources are pointing to a rise in US oil inventories, with official data due for release during Wednesday US trade. This has taken some of the gloss of the recent rally in crude, albeit at the margins.
• Elsewhere, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval forces said that Iran is choosing not to disrupt flows through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.
• Also, world oil demand growth for 2024 has been revised down by 480k b/d to 0.95m b/d in the EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook.
• These developments may have also seen some tempering of bullish sentiment, particularly ahead of the US CPI and FOMC Mins due later.
• Not much has changed from a technical standpoint though, for WTI the next objective is $89.08, a Fibonacci projection. On the downside, initial firm support to watch lies at $82.80, the 20-day.