Oil price edges up

MOSCOW: Crude oil prices rose on Friday, recovering from two days of declines, after data showing a rise in US retail sales helped to ease recession concerns, although a bearish outlook from OPEC capped gains. Brent crude was up $0.28 at $58.51 a barrel at 1326 GMT, after falling 2.1% on Thursday and 3% the previous day. US crude fell $0.19 to $54.28 a barrel, having dropped 1.4% in the previous session and 3.3% on Wednesday. US retail sales rose 0.7% in July as consumers bought a range of goods even as they cut back on vehicle purchases, Thursday’s data showed. That came a day after a sell-off in world markets that followed the US Treasury yield curve’s first inversion since June 2007 - a development usually seen as a reliable predictor of looming recession. “Oil appears on the rise following the possibility of direct communication between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping,” said Harry Tchilinguirian from BNP Paribas.  

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2019.

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