US Light crude oil futures for June 2013 delivery opened Tuesday’s session back above $94 a barrel as the dollar slid lower pushing oil futures up ahead of the Federal Reserve and the ECB’s economic meetings this week, which will be key to market direction.
Latest WTI Oil Price
US WTI Light crude oil futures for June 2013 delivery was trading at $94.22 a barrel, 08:04 GMT this morning in electronic trading on the NYMEX. The US dollar dipped off recent highs against other major world currencies as seen by movements in the US Dollar Index. A weaker dollar also helped boost oil prices by making crude priced in dollars cheaper for traders using other currencies.
US Fed Meeting
Investors will await the outcome of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve policy meeting for cues on the direction of monetary policy in the US. Investors are increasingly confident that the central bank will signal it doesn’t intend to end its third round of quantitative easing any time soon. That easing has taken the form of the Fed spending $85 billion US dollars a month.
“If we look back three weeks ago, the consensus on the street was that there may be some inklings of more Fed members going for a pullback or a retracement from QE by the end of the year,” said Andrew Pyle, portfolio manager at ScotiaMcLeod in Peterborough, Ontario.
ECB Meeting
Traders took some encouragement from expectations that monetary easing policies of the major central banks would remain in place and the ECB could even cut its key rate in hopes of boosting growth in the eurozone.
“You can tie the crude oil rally to the expectation of a rate cut by the ECB on Thursday,” said Robert Yawger of Mizuho Securities.
Looking forward to Thursday’s meeting, views are mixed with some investors expecting the ECB to keep interest rates unchanged despite the current political and financial landscape whilst others are expecting an interest rate cut.
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US WTI oil price holds above $94 a barrel as dollar slides lower
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