Oil Prices Climb Higher Ahead Of Key Events, US CPI & EIA Report Coming Up

Oil prices have risen for the last 3 trading days and have trended higher again during today’s APAC session. There are a number of key events for the oil market this week including today’s US CPI, Wednesday’s Fed decision and monthly reports from OPEC (Wed), IEA (Thurs) and EIA (today). The USD index is down 0.1%.

• Brent has traded above $76 for most of today’s session and is up 0.3% to $76.24/bbl, close to the intraday high. WTI is also 0.3% higher at $71.54.
• Prices remain well down in December to date as the market has worried that there will be a widening surplus despite OPEC+ planning cuts worth 2.2mbd in Q1 2024. With the focus on supply, the API US inventory data out later today and the EIA report will be monitored closely. The US has seen strong crude output.
• The market is sceptical that OPEC members will adhere to their new quotas but if they do, analysts believe that prices will find some support.
• Later US CPI data for November print and are expected to show a slight easing in headline to 3.1% and core steady at 4% (see MNI US CPI Preview). There are also real earnings and the November budget statement. UK labour and wages data are on the schedule.