Oil prices retreat from 3-1/2-year peak
The US president’s Iran announcement on Tuesday triggered a surge in oil prices to levels unseen in over three years
PHOTO: EXPRESS
NEW YORK:
US and European equity markets essentially treaded water on Friday while oil prices retreated, concluding a turbulent week marked by President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear pact. The US president’s Iran announcement on Tuesday triggered a surge in oil prices to levels unseen in over three years.
But oil prices pulled back Friday, with some analysts pointing to profit-taking and others seeing the move as motivated by the belief that other major OPEC producers could boost output as needed. Traders meanwhile welcomed below-forecast US inflation data on Thursday that dented expectations for a sharp rise in US interest rates, which buoyed the prospect of continued cheap borrowing.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2018.
US and European equity markets essentially treaded water on Friday while oil prices retreated, concluding a turbulent week marked by President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Iran nuclear pact. The US president’s Iran announcement on Tuesday triggered a surge in oil prices to levels unseen in over three years.
But oil prices pulled back Friday, with some analysts pointing to profit-taking and others seeing the move as motivated by the belief that other major OPEC producers could boost output as needed. Traders meanwhile welcomed below-forecast US inflation data on Thursday that dented expectations for a sharp rise in US interest rates, which buoyed the prospect of continued cheap borrowing.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2018.