Oil Volatile Ahead of OPEC Meeting in Vienna

Oil prices gained more than two percent on Monday in volatile trading after falling as much as two percent, recouping losses as the market reacted to the shaky prospect of major producers being able to agree output cuts at a meeting on Wednesday.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were $1.10 higher at $48.34 per barrel by 1410 GMT (9:10 a.m. ET), after falling in early morning trade, clawing back losses and falling again.



U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 also fluctuated widely before trading $1.10 higher at $47.16.

Trading turned choppy after prices tumbled more than 3 percent on Friday as doubts grew over whether the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would reach agreement to help curb a global supply overhang that has more than halved prices since 2014.

Market watchers expected prices to remain volatile until OPEC’s Wednesday meeting offers the market a definitive answer as to whether OPEC and non-OPEC producers can agree cuts.

“There’s going to be speculation until the meeting that makes prices very difficult to predict between now and Wednesday,” said Hamza Khan, head of commodities strategy at ING. “Whatever small fundamental news we get will be drowned out by the shouting from Vienna.”

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza