Oil Steady After Weekly Drop as Market Weighs Trump Tariffs
Oil steadied after a series of weekly declines as markets weighed the impact of President Donald Trump’s ongoing tariffs.
Brent traded below $75 a barrel after a third weekly decline, the longest losing streak since September, while West Texas Intermediate neared $71. Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods are set to kick in Monday, retaliating against Trump’s levies that took effect last week.
The U.S. president imposed more tariffs on Sunday, this time on steel and aluminum, which would apply to all countries. The duties could hit the U.S. energy industry, including oil drillers, which rely on specialty steel that is not made in America.
Oil has been on a downtrend since mid-January as a weak demand outlook and Trump’s tariffs have hurt sentiment, more so than U.S. sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil. Several market indicators have also pointed to weakness, including the so-called timespread, which measures short-term supply tightness.
Speculators increased their bearish bets on the U.S. oil benchmark by the most since October last week as Trump’s tariffs rattled markets. Net long positions for WTI were lower for a second week, while the corresponding gauge for Brent snapped a five-week advance.
Source: Bloomberg
