Oil futures traded lower Monday, after a third straight losing week, as investors await a Federal Reserve decision that’s expected to deliver another jumbo rate hike.
Price action
-
West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery
CL.1,
-2.81% CLV22,
-2.81%
fell $2.02, or 2.4%, to $83.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. -
November Brent crude
BRN00,
-2.44% BRNX22,
-2.44% ,
the global benchmark, was down $2, or 2.2%, at $89.35 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. -
Back on Nymex, October gasoline
RBV22,
-2.37%
fell 2.8% to $2.348 a gallon, while October heating oil
HOV22,
-0.72%
dropped 1.2% to $3.135 a gallon. -
October natural gas
NGV22,
-2.74%
declined 3.8% to $7.467 per million British thermal units.
Market drivers
WTI fell 1.9% last week, while Brent dropped 1.6%, with analysts tying weakness to fears of a sharp global economic slowdown or recession as major central banks, particularly the Federal Reserve, aggressively raise interest rates in a bid to bring down stubbornly high inflation.
The Fed is expected Wednesday to deliver another supersize 75 basis point, or 0.75 percentage point, rise to the fed-funds rate when it concludes a two-day policy meeting. Some investors and analysts say there’s the outside possibility of a 100-basis-point move.
Meanwhile, the Fed’s hawkish tone is driving the dollar higher. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, was up 0.1% on Monday but was trading near a 20-year high set last week.
