Prices Steady, OPEC Meeting Later Unlikely To Change Stance

Oil prices are down slightly during the APAC session and are off the session’s highs. Tight supply fundamentals are holding crude up despite a stronger greenback, USD index +0.2%, and rising US yields. Brent fell from a high of $91.21/bbl earlier in the session to a low of $90.62 on dollar strength but has come back to around $90.84/bbl. WTI has traded below $90 finding a floor at $89 and is currently around $89.16.

• The WTI prompt spread is off its peak but still wider than the end of August and continues to signal market tightness, according to Bloomberg.
• Bloomberg reported that there was a 4.21mn barrels US crude stock drawdown in the latest week according to people familiar with the API data. Gasoline rose 3.9mn and distillate 0.3mn. Later the official EIA data are released and oil inventories are expected to be close to flat.
• Russia is considering a lift of its diesel export ban for producers with an announcement likely in the next few days. This would put downward pressure on prices.
• According to Bloomberg, OPEC will have an online meeting on Wednesday to discuss the current position of global markets. Output was constant in September and its current stance is unlikely to be altered.
• Later the Fed’s Bowman and Goolsbee speak. There is also a swathe of US data including ADP September employment, September services PMI/ISM and final August durable goods orders. Euro area services PMIs, August retail sales and PPI also print. The ECB’s Lagarde, de Guindos and Panetta appear.