Paring Recent Gains As Growth Worry Remains Elevated

WTI and Brent are ~$0.80 softer apiece, paring a little of their respective gains made on Friday as worry re: Fed hawkishness impacting economic growth (and the outlook for energy demand) has ticked higher, with equities across the Asia-Pac region struggling as well.

• To recap, both benchmarks closed ~$4 firmer apiece on Friday, hitting multi-week highs on tailwinds from continued tightness in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories, as well as OPEC+ decision to cut crude output targets by 2mn bpd on Wednesday.
• On the latter topic, WTI and Brent notched ~17% and ~11% higher weekly closes respectively, largely shrugging off the above-expectations NFPs print on Friday at the time.
• Looking ahead, participants continue to await a U.S. response to the OPEC+ decision, although some observers have stated that U.S. efforts may centre around the “NOPEC” bill for now amidst a lack of suitable, effective alternatives.
• Further out, some are watching for signs of a Q4 easing in China’s COVID-zero policy, with the country heading for the twice-a-decade party Congress on Oct 16.
• Brent’s prompt spread now sits at ~$1.97, a little shy of 13-week highs recorded last Friday.