Oil: Market steadier as Hormuz risks persist – ING

FXStreet Insights Team FXStreet

ING analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey say the Oil market has stabilised after a volatile week driven by concerns over Persian Gulf disruptions and the expiry of the ICE Brent Jun-26 contract. They note that President Trump’s Hormuz shipping plan and an OPEC+ June supply increase are unlikely to fully offset ongoing Strait of Hormuz disruptions.

Oil steadies as traders assess Hormuz

"It was a volatile week in the oil market amid growing concerns about ongoing disruptions to oil flows from the Persian Gulf and the expiration of the ICE Brent Jun-26 contract on Thursday. The market is steadier at the start of the new trading week, despite continued noise around developments in the Persian Gulf."

"Trump also announced plans to guide commercial ships out of the Persian Gulf and through the Strait of Hormuz. The announcement saw a brief sell-off in oil prices, but the market has since pared these losses. The market does not seem convinced by the plan, which is called “Project Freedom.”"

"Over the weekend, OPEC+ announced a 188k b/d supply increase for June. However, this increase is unlikely to be realised, given that 55% of it is expected to come from Persian Gulf producers. This won’t happen amid ongoing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz."

"The latest positioning data shows that speculators increased their net long in ICE Brent by 13,862 lots over the last reporting week to 383,205 lots as of last Tuesday. The move was dominated by fresh longs entering the market."

(This article was created with the help of an Artificial Intelligence tool and reviewed by an editor.)

Author

FXStreet Insights Team

FXStreet

The FXStreet Insights Team is a group of journalists that handpicks selected market observations published by renowned experts. The content includes notes by commercial as well as additional insights by internal and external analysts.

GBP/USD trims gains; back to 1.3450-ish

The persistent weakness hurting the Greenback lends support to the British Pound and the rest of the risk-linked assets, sending GBP/USD to new two-day tops past 1.3480 on Wednesday. Indeed, Cable advances for the second day in a row helped by the constant optimism around a potential US-Iran deal.

EUR/USD looks set to extend advance beyond 1.1600

The Euro trades broadly firm at around 1.1555 against the US Dollar during the Asian trading session on Thursday. The major currency pair reflects strength as the US Dollar is broadly under pressure due to deteriorating United States employment conditions.

How Wall Street rigs the game [Video]

In this week’s Live from the Vault, Andrew Maguire is joined by Peter Antico and Sean Stone to discuss the Paradigm of Money - an in-depth expose of financial market corruption, from naked shorting to the two-tier system that protects Wall Street.

Bitcoin stalls despite strong market activity across traditional assets

Bitcoin (BTC) remained subdued while stocks edged higher and gold lower, suggesting the market is trapped between weakening institutional demand and growing signs of seller exhaustion, according to a Glassnode report on Wednesday.

Why the WTI sell-off may be hiding a supply warning

Prices for the barrel of the American Oil benchmark have fallen sharply as hopes of a US-Iran agreement have resurfaced, but a deeply backwardated Oil curve, tight Cushing stocks and light speculative positioning all warn that the sell-off may have gone too far.

9-3: Is the Federal Reserve’s vote tally Warsh's new forward guidance?

The rate did not move. Neither did the statement, and that’s the more interesting fact. Set the July 29 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement beside the one issued on June 17, and the two documents are identical apart from a single verb and a paragraph at the bottom naming three dissenters.