(New York) Oil prices rose timidly on Thursday, after the publication of US growth and especially after their sharp fall the day before.
A barrel of Brent North Sea oil, for June delivery, gained 68 cents, or 0.87%, to $78.37.
Its U.S. equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for same-month delivery, edged up 46 cents, or 0.61%, to $74.76.
US growth weakened from January to March at an annualized rate, rising 1.1% from 2.6% in the last quarter of 2022, according to a preliminary estimate from the Commerce Department.
For Edward Moya, an analyst at Oanda, “Crude prices have bottomed out after mixed data that continues to argue for tight monetary policy from the Fed.”
Despite slowing growth, quarterly inflation remained surprisingly tenacious in the department’s data (4.9% annualized from the previous quarter for core inflation, compared to 4.4% three months earlier ).
But for James Williams of WTRG Economics, “oil is mostly traded on the basis of economic uncertainty.”
According to the analyst, “the technical rebound in oil prices should have been much larger on Thursday”, after the loss of almost 4% the day before. “We should have seen at least a $1 a barrel increase,” he said.
“It shows how worried we are about the prospect of a recession” and therefore a drop in demand for black gold, he added.
Helping in the slight rebound, Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Alexander Novak said on Thursday that “the market was balanced”.
He added that, despite the possibility of weaker demand from China, the Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries and their OPEC allies did not foresee widening production cuts at this time. .
In addition, on a global level, a World Bank report on raw materials, published Thursday, estimates that the prices of these will fall by 21% in 2023 compared to last year.
“A 26% decline in energy prices is expected. The price per barrel of Brent is expected to average $84, 16% lower than the 2022 average,” according to the World Bank’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook.
