Oil prices fell on Thursday after three sessions of gains after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell renewed his commitment to contain inflation, including the possibility of raising interest rates again.
As of 00:09 GMT, Brent crude futures were down 1% to $75.89 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 1.2% to $70.06 a barrel.
The two benchmarks hit their highest closing levels since March 14, with Wednesday’s deal.
Powell said on Wednesday that pressures in the banking sector could lead to a credit crisis with “clear” repercussions on the U.S. economy, which Federal Reserve officials expect to slow this year more than previously anticipated.
The US banking crisis caused volatility in trading in risky assets like oil last week, and investors await the US Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates on Wednesday.
And yesterday, on Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve decided to raise main interest rates by 25 basis points (a quarter of a percentage point); this was the same amount of increase the bank approved in early February after raising interest rates. After rising 50 basis points in 4 consecutive 75 points last December, today the benchmark interest rate has reached the range from 4.75% to 5%, the highest level since 2007, before the global financial crisis.
Source: Reuters
