Oil prices witnessed a dip on Wednesday, recording successive losses as traders awaited new inventory data from the U.S. and a decision on interest rates from the Federal Reserve. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery fell 80 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $90.40 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. This drop follows the commodity's surge to $93.74 on Monday, the highest level a front-month contract has reached since November 7, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Internationally, the November Brent crude benchmark also experienced a decline, losing 63 cents or 0.7% to reach $93.71 per barrel on ICE Futures Europe. Concurrently, October gasoline fell by 0.9% to $2.64 per gallon, and October heating oil slipped by 1.1% to $3.33 per gallon. October natural gas also saw a decrease of 2.9%, landing at $2.76 per million British thermal units.
Market participants are keenly awaiting a weekly update from the U.S. Energy Information Administration due at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, which is expected to shed light on crude oil supplies. A forecasted fall in inventories could potentially lift prices; however, oil prices are subject to various market dynamics including fluctuations in the value of the U.S dollar.
Walt Chancellor, an energy strategist at Macquarie, noted that they anticipate U.S crude inventories to have declined by 0.7 MM BBL for the week ending September 15. This prediction comes after an increase of 4.0 MM BBL for the week ending September 8, indicating a tighter U.S crude balance than initially expected.
In addition to the inventory data, investors worldwide are closely observing the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision due on Wednesday. While it is widely anticipated that the central bank will hold current interest rates steady, any alterations to its borrowing cost projections or comments from Chairman Jerome Powell could significantly impact market movements.
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