Crude Oil Prices Seesaw on Hopes for Larger OPEC-Led Output Cuts

London (Aug 8)  Crude oil prices seesawed but failed to find lasting direction. The WTI benchmark fell as Libya restarted its Shahara oil field after it was briefly shut down by protestors. The country is exempt from the OPEC-led production cut scheme and its growing output has bedeviled participants’ efforts at rebalancing the market. 

Prices swiftly recovered however as all eyes returned to Abu Dhabi, where a meeting of the cartel and its allies is eyed for signs of agreement on larger output reduction. News-flow from the gathering as well as the weekly set of API inventory flow figures and a short-term outlook report from the EIA are now in focus.

Gold prices marked time in a narrow consolidation range, digesting losses sustained after Friday’s upbeat US jobs report. Traders were uninspired by broadly status-quo comments from St Louis and Minneapolis Fed presidents Jim Bullard and Neel Kashkari. 

Both policymakers fall on the dovish side of the FOMC spectrum and delivered accordingly without sounding any more forceful than before. A lull in top-tier news-flow may see the standstill continue in the near term as investors brace for Friday’s US CPI report.

DailyFX