Futures Movers: Oil futures lower after Fed rate hike

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Oil futures were lower Thursday, losing ground a day after the Federal Reserve delivered another quarter-point interest rate hike.

Price action
  • West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery
    CL00,
    -0.52%

    CL.1,
    -0.52%

    CLK23,
    -0.52%

    fell 48 cents, or 0.7%, to $70.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

  • May Brent crude
    BRN00,
    -0.38%

    BRNK23,
    -0.38%

    was down 35 cents, or 0.5%, at $76.34 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

  • Back on Nymex, April gasoline
    RBJ23,
    +0.19%

    fell 0.2% to $2.589 a gallon, while April heating oil
    HOJ23,
    -0.64%

    dropped 0.8% to $2.718 a gallon.

  • April natural gas
    NGJ23,
    +2.72%

    rose 0.8% to $2.188 per million British thermal units.

Market drivers

Crude prices ended higher Wednesday after the Federal Reserve delivered a quarter-point rate hike, as expected. The Fed’s forecast showed policy makers expect just one more rate increase this year.

See: ‘Very unclear’: Powell’s press conference provided more questions than answers. Here are 4 big ones economists still have.

Crude has bounced back somewhat since tumbling last week to a 15-month low on fears that trouble in the banking sector could lead to a significant economic downturn.

“While no one can say with confidence that a banking crisis has been averted, there is growing confidence that the actions taken by central banks, regulators, and governments have significantly reduced the odds of one, particularly a severe scenario, and that is ultimately good for the economy and crude demand,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, in a note.

But Brent and WTI “remain below the range lows that preceded the selloff and have even run into resistance around those lows over the last couple of days. A move back above here may suggest confidence is returning while a failure to do so may indicate some more permanent damage to expectations,” he wrote.