Chart of the Week: Oil prices fall despite Middle East concerns

Oil prices continued to fall last week despite ongoing concerns that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could escalate, disrupting oil supplies. The continued decline in the price of crude is also surprising in light of Russia and Saudi Arabia recently confirming that they would maintain production cuts until the end of the year. Traders seem to be more focused the economic outlook and in particular a data release which revealed Chinese exports fell more than expected in October. The US jobs report for the same month also pointed to slowing in the world’s largest economy. The decline in oil prices will be a relief for central bankers who are concerned about unexpectedly sticky inflation and have been deliberating their next policy moves.

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The views expressed in this article are the views of the author, not necessarily those of LSEG.

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