WTI oil opens with a decrease of 1.70%, reaching $82.05 per barrel.

Today, investors will be watching the Fed, which will announce its decision on interest rates and offer its latest macroeconomic forecasts.

Ignacio Teson•Wednesday, March 20, 2024•1 min read

The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil opened with a decrease of 1.70%, reaching $82.05 per barrel, while investors await the upcoming announcements from the United States Federal Reserve (Fed).

Futures contracts for WTI for delivery in April were down $1.42 compared to the previous session’s close.

Oil continued its upward trend yesterday, with WTI reaching a new high since November by closing above $83 per barrel.

The key bullish catalyst for yesterday’s rise was the news that recent drone attacks on Russian refineries by Ukrainian forces could result in cuts to crude oil production of around 7% of Russia’s total production.

Today, investors will be watching the Fed, which will announce its decision on interest rates and offer its latest macroeconomic forecasts at the end of a two-day meeting of its Federal Open Market Committee members.

Investors will also be paying attention to official data on U.S. Energy Information Administration reserves, which will be released this Wednesday.

USOIL

Meanwhile, natural gas futures fell during the European session on Wednesday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for April were trading at $1.73 per million British thermal units. As of this report, they were down 0.86%.

It reached an early session low of $1.73 per million British thermal units. Natural gas is likely to find support at $1.643 and resistance at $1.774.

The Dollar Index Futures, which tracks the dollar’s trend against a basket of the other six major currencies, rose by 0.30% to trade at $103.79.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR See More

Ignacio Teson

Economist and Financial Analyst

Ignacio Teson is an Economist and Financial Analyst. He has more than 7 years of experience in emerging markets. He worked as an analyst and market operator at brokerage firms in Argentina and Spain.