NEW YORK: Oil prices fell on Friday as investors weighed weak US fuel demand and took some money off the table at quarter-end, while key inflation data for May boosted the chances the Federal Reserve will start to cut interest rates this year.
Brent crude futures for August settlement, which expired on Friday, settled up 2 cents at $86.41 a barrel. The more liquid September contract fell 0.3% to $85 a barrel.?US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled 20 cents lower, or 0.24%, to $81.54. For the week, Brent rose 0.02% while WTI futures posted a 0.2% loss. Both benchmarks gained around 6% for the month. While US oil production and demand rose to a four-month high in April, demand for gasoline fell to 8.83 million barrels per day, its lowest since February, according to the Energy Information Administration’s Petroleum Supply Monthly report published on Friday. “The monthly report from the EIA suggested the gasoline demand was pretty poor,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group. “Those numbers didn’t really inspire more buying.”
Analysts said some traders took profits at the end of the second quarter after prices rallied earlier this month. The US personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, was flat in May, lifting hopes for rate cuts in September. Still, the reaction in financial markets was minimal.
For oil traders, the release passed unnoticed, said Charalampos Pissouros, senior investment analyst at brokerage XM.
Growing expectations of a Fed easing cycle have sparked a risk rally across stock markets. Traders are now pricing in a 64% chance of a first rate cut in September, up from 50% a month ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
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