(New York) Oil prices oscillated Thursday to end slightly higher, tossed between the surprise of larger-than-expected American crude reserves, data on weakening American inflation and announcements from the Federal Reserve which supported the dollar.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in August, increased 0.18% to $82.75.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in July, advanced 0.15% to $78.62.
“Commodity prices are volatile after the disappointment brought by the Fed” which only expects a drop in interest rates this year, commented Phil Flynn of Price Future Group.
“After the US central bank left its interest rate unchanged” and “planned only one reduction in borrowing costs this year”, “sentiment has deteriorated somewhat” in the market black gold, noted Tamas Varga, of PVM Energy.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve (Fed) left its rates unchanged as expected at their highest level in more than twenty years, in the range of 5.25% to 5.50%.
For 2024, the monetary institution is now banking on a single rate cut, where, in March, it planned three reductions.
Prices returned slightly to the green with the publication on Thursday of the producer price index for May in the United States which brought a pleasant surprise, falling by 0.2% over the month.
Weekly claims for unemployment benefits rose to the highest since August at 242,000. These data, on both wholesale prices and employment, point to a slowdown that could help the Fed be more dovish soon , which will be favorable to energy demand.
The day before, the climate had deteriorated for black gold after the publication on Wednesday of the report on American stocks from the American Energy Information Agency, which highlighted an increase in crude reserves of 3 .7 million barrels during the week ended June 7.