Lack of Trade Deal Progress Weighs on Markets

A lack of progress in getting a trade deal done is putting downward pressure on prices this morning.  WTI Crude is trading at $56.43, a loss of 37 cents.

Fuel is down this morning.  Diesel is trading at $1.8718, a loss of 2.6 cents.  Gasoline is trading at $1.6075, a loss of 0.7 cents.

On Tuesday, crude prices remained relatively unchanged as the market considered how to weigh the possibility of getting a “phase one” trade deal done with China. At his speech to the Economic Club of New York, Trump did not signal that any progress had been made in talks with China and he even mentioned a possible increase in tariffs.  Trump said, “If we don’t make a deal, we’re going to substantially raise those tariffs… They’re going to be raised very substantially. And that’s going to be true for other countries that mistreat us too.”

According to the International Energy Agency, Global oil demand will start to fall off around 2030 as the use of more efficient cars and electric vehicles ends are predicted to end an expansion.  While the current growth rate of 1 mmbpd (around 1%) should hold for the next five years, it could drop to just 100 kbpd in the 2030s, the agency said.

Due to the Veteran’s day holiday on Monday, all weekly reports will be released a day later than usual. The API data for the latest week will be released today at 4:30 pm EST, while the weekly report from the EIA is due at 11:00 am EST on Thursday.