Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
Crude oil futures contracts were trading quiet and steady with the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday thinning volume. Traders are also looking towards next week’s OPEC meeting, including non-members led by Russia.
Traders are expecting the OPEC + nations to extend their production cuts through next year in order to continue supporting the price of oil.
As of 1 am GMT, the international Brent futures contract was trading down five percent to fetch $63.82 a barrel. This contract lost 0.3 percent on Thursday.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures contract, for front end delivery, added one cent to trade at $58.12 a barrel. The contract gained 0.2 percent yesterday despite many U.S. traders absent for the holiday.
Crude Oil Traders Look Towards the upcoming OPEC Meeting and Trade Tensions
Next week, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, collectively called the OPEC + nations, will be meeting to announce and decide oil production for 2020.
They have been withholding production as U.S. production keeps hitting record levels. They are widely expected to extend their production cut scheme in order to curb global oversupply and support prices.
Russian oil companies have already agreed not to change output quotas as part of the deal that is in place until March 2020. This is putting pressure on OPEC to avoid any major shift in policy when they meet next week.
Political tensions between China and the United States are escalating. Yesterday, China warned the United States that they would take “firm countermeasures” in response to new U.S. legislation supporting pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong.
Market participants are worried that this could derail and delay the two counties in reaching a preliminary trade accord. This trade war has wreaked havoc on global financial markets and stunted global economic growth. Both nations are the two largest consumers of oil in the world.
