Market Report & Analysis for 9/24/2018 Morning Edition
Morning Market Overview
New York Mercantile Exchange October West Texas Intermediate futures expired above $70 bbl on Thursday but down on the session alongside lower settlements for nearest delivered oil products and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange, pressured by a downward revision in world economic growth, increasing Russian oil production, and a tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to lower oil prices.
As he did earlier in the year, Trump tweeted a demand for OPEC to produce more, tweeting “The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!” The 4:13 AM ET tweet and the OECD release prompted the first of three intraday selloffs by Brent and WTI futures, although the WTI contract remained supported by a weakening U.S. dollar, which tumbled to a 10-week low in index trading. In its interim economic outlook released yesterday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said, “The expansion may now have peaked,” adding “with downside risks intensifying.”
The Paris-based 35-country bloc organization for developed economies revised down its forecast for world economic growth for this year and 2019 by 0.1% to 3.7% from its outlook in May, up from 3.6% in 2017, adding “some emerging-market economies are facing significant headwinds from rising financial market pressures.” “Global trade growth slowed in the first half of 2018, with trade tensions already having adverse effects on confidence and investment plans,” said OECD.
OECD maintained its forecast for the U.S. economy to expand at a 2.9% annualized rate for this year, up from a 2.2% growth rate in 2016, although revised lower its projection for the expansion in 2019 by 0.1% to 2.7%.
