Oil Snaps Three-Day Advance on Fed Outlook, Rising Inventories - Yahoo Finance

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(Bloomberg) -- Oil fell as US crude stockpiles rose to the highest in two years and the Federal Reserve struck a hawkish tone as it raised rates again.

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West Texas Intermediate for May traded near $70 a barrel after rising about 6% in the first three days of the week. Fed Chair Jerome Powell advised that more tightening may be in store after Wednesday’s 25 basis-point hike, and added that rates won’t be cut this year. The comments came less than two weeks after the most severe banking crisis since 2008.

US nationwide crude stockpiles expanded to the highest level since May 2021 after strong builds on the Gulf Coast outweighed a decline at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub, according to official data. Oil exports also jumped to a record high, the Energy Information Administration figures showed.

Crude is headed for the steepest first-quarter drop since 2020, when the pandemic hammered demand. The slump has been driven by concerns about a potential US recession, robust Russian flows despite Western sanctions, and the banking turmoil. Still, there are signs of strong demand in Asia as China recovers after the nation ditched its Covid Zero policy late last year.

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