Oil Erases Post Weekend Gains Before Stabilizing

The first part of the session saw oil benchmarks drifting lower. WTI got to lows just under $82.80/bbl, which unwound all of the gains post Hamas's surprise attack on Israel over the weekend. WTI recovered some ground from there, the benchmark last near $83.10/bbl. This leaves us down a further 0.45%, following Wednesday's 2.88% loss.

• Brent was last near $85.60/bbl, down modestly from Wednesday closing levels and having followed a similar trajectory to WTI.
• Focus remains on risks of escalation in the Israel/Hamas conflict, particularly in terms of Iran. However, US intelligence agencies have reportedly stated they don't have any evidence Iran directed the Hamas attack (see this BBG link for more details). Still, the US authorities aren't ruling out fresh sanctions against Iran.
• Outside of geopolitics, coming up in the US session is official oil inventory data.