Oil held near $69 a barrel as traders weighed the potential for China stimulus measures against the outlook for higher interest rates.
West Texas Intermediate steadied after a choppy session on Monday, following a short-lived uprising in Russia over the weekend. Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Tuesday that the government would roll out more practical, effective measures to boost domestic demand, but those promises were largely reiterations of prior statements made by officials.
Meanwhile, after several policymakers struck a hawkish tone on interest rates last week, the president of the European Central Bank said it probably won't be able to declare the end of its historic interest-rate hiking cycle any time soon.
Oil in New York remains on track for its first back-to-back quarterly loss since 2019, in part due to headwinds from China's lackluster economic recovery and aggressive monetary tightening from the US Federal Reserve. Resilient Russian crude exports have added to the pressure on prices, which have been near current levels since early May.
WTI for August delivery was 0.7% lower at $68.87 a barrel as of 10:13 a.m. in London. Brent for August settlement eased 0.7% to $73.67 a barrel.
Source : Bloomberg
