After selling-off overnight, the Dec’24 Brent futures contract was on a steady upward trend this morning, trading at $71.30/bbl at 07:00 BST and rising to $71.76/bbl as of 11:30 BST (time of writing). In the news today, Chinese leaders at a Politburo meeting have pledged to deploy “necessary fiscal spending” to meet China’s 2024 growth target of 5%, in response to concerns about the effectiveness of the government stimulus. According to Reuters, the September meeting is not typically a forum for macroeconomic discussion, signalling growing anxiety over slowing growth in the country. In other news, a Thursday morning statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that reports of a ceasefire with Hezbollah are incorrect, and refer to “an American-French proposal, to which the Prime Minister did not even respond”. In the meantime, the Prime Minister has instructed the IDF to continue fighting in full force. Finally, Saudi Arabia has scrapped its unofficial $100/bbl oil price target as it prepares to increase output, according to Financial Times. With OPEC+ planning to boost output towards the start of 2025, Saudi Arabia seeks to defend its market share by increasing production. At the time of writing, the front month (Dec/Jan’25) and six-month (Dec/Jun’25) Brent futures spreads are at $0.27/bbl and $0.60/bbl, respectively.
