Tracking Lower For The Week, But Respecting Recent Ranges

Brent crude has remained on the back foot through the session, in line with a firmer USD backdrop and risk aversion in the equity space. We last tracked around the $84.25/30bbl level, down close to 1% for the session so far. At this stage we are tracking 2.37% lower for the week. Overall, though Brent remains within well established ranges. WTI is last under $78/bbl, off by a similar amount to Brent today.

• The combination of the more hawkish Fed backdrop and rising inventory levels in the US have helped soften the oil backdrop in the past week. Headlines also crossed earlier that Russia will keep March export volumes.
• Still, optimism remains around the China outlook, with other commodities such as iron ore and copper looking better through the tail end of this week. Prompt spreads are also not too far off recent highs, suggesting some degree of tightness in terms of supply.
• Looking ahead, next week is fairly quiet in terms of oil specific event risks, other than the usual weekly inventory reports.