The May Brent futures contract weakened further to the $85.20/bbl handles at 15:00 GMT where it found support and printed $85.45/bbl at 17:20 GMT (time of writing). The softening in price action came alongside talks of the US reportedly drafting a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire that would permit the release of 40 Israeli hostages in return for hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails. The EIA, in its Mar Short-Term Energy Outlook report, increased its oil price forecast to $88/bbl for Q2’24, $4 higher than last month’s prediction, following news on an extension on OPEC+’s production cuts. US Labour Department data displayed an unexpected drop of 2,000 (to 210,000) in the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits. Across the Atlantic, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey stated that Britain’s economy is moving to a point where the Bank can start cutting interest rates. Finally, the front-month and six-month Brent spreads are currently at $0.54/bbl and $3.79/bbl, respectively.
