Oil Up Slightly as Market Awaits Key US Inflation Data

Oil prices slightly rose on Wednesday as the market waited for U.S. inflation data later in the day. It will likely influence the Federal Reserve’s policy on future interest rate hikes.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 77 cents, or 0.95% to $82.29 a barrel.

Brent crude climbed 87 cents, or 1.02% to $86.28 a barrel.

Prices had risen about 2% on Tuesday amid optimism that the U.S. Federal Reserve is getting closer to ending its cycle of interest rate hikes. It is making dollar-priced oil cheaper for buyers holding other currencies.

The U.S. consumer price index is expected to show March core inflation rose 0.4% on a monthly basis and 5.6% year-on-year, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker said on Tuesday that he feels the U.S. central bank may soon be done raising interest rates, while Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said he believes inflation, now at a rate of 5% by the Fed’s preferred measure, will get to “the mid-threes” by the end of this year.

Yeap Jun Rong, a market analyst at IG said in a note to clients, however, that any “higher-than-expected inflation print could lay the ground for another 25 basis-point rate hike in June”

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Source: Oil & Gas 360

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