NEW YORK, Nov 28 (Reuters) – The global oil market is signaling a potential shift, as traders and analysts worry about reduced crude demand and an oversupplied market in the coming months.
After months of strength, crude futures are flirting with lows not seen all year as top oil consumer China enters additional COVID-19 lockdowns while central banks hike interest rates to combat inflation.
Front-month global oil prices in the last week have traded weaker than future-dated contracts, while prices for physical crude grades throughout the world have declined, market participants said.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Oil Falls Over $2 A Barrel As China’s COVID Protests Fuel Demand Fears
TOKYO, Nov 28 (Reuters) – Oil futures fell more than $2 a barrel on Monday, with WTI hitting an 11-month low, as protests in top importer China over strict COVID-19 curbs fuelled demand concerns.
Brent crude dropped $2.16, or 2.6%, to trade at $81.47 a barrel at 0230 GMT, after diving to $81.16 earlier in the session — its lowest since Jan. 11.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slid $2.08, or 2.7%, to $74.20 a barrel. It fell as far as $73.82 earlier — its lowest since Dec. 27, 2021.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Exclusive: U.S. Weighs Sending 100-Mile Strike Weapon To Ukraine
WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) – The Pentagon is considering a Boeing proposal to supply Ukraine with cheap, small precision bombs fitted onto abundantly available rockets, allowing Kyiv to strike far behind Russian lines as the West struggles to meet demand for more arms.
U.S. and allied military inventories are shrinking, and Ukraine faces an increasing need for more sophisticated weapons as the war drags on. Boeing’s proposed system, dubbed Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), is one of about a half-dozen plans for getting new munitions into production for Ukraine and America’s Eastern European allies, industry sources said.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Dollar Rises, Yuan Slumps As China’s COVID Unrest Spooks Market
SINGAPORE, Nov 28 (Reuters) – The dollar climbed on Monday as protests in China against the government’s anti-COVID policies made investors turn away from riskier assets, and consigned the Chinese yuan to a more than two-week low against the safe-haven greenback.
The protests have flared across China and spread to several cities in the wake of an apartment fire that killed 10 people in Urumqi in the country’s far west. Hundreds of demonstrators and police clashed in Shanghai on Sunday night.
Full coverage: REUTERS
Morning Bid: Red Alert
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Anshuman Daga
Hopes of a quiet close to the final weeks of 2022 are being firmly squashed as rare, widespread protests across China following strict coronavirus curbs fuel risk-off sentiment and batter stocks, while pushing up the safe-haven dollar.
To make matters worse, COVID-19 infections hit a fifth daily record in the country just as restrictions had become less onerous earlier this month and spurred expectations of a full reopening soon.
Full coverage: REUTERS
