Finance1 min read

Oil edges down as investors await US midterm election results

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Market participants are tracking U.S. election tallies to see if Republicans retain congressional control while monitoring Qatari-led peace talks between the United States, Israel, and Iran. Crude contracts slipped even as an American Petroleum Institute report revealed a surprise 5.27 million-barrel decline in domestic crude reserves. In addition to the crude drawdown, the industry figures showed gasoline inventories climbed by 1.43 million barrels while distillates fell by 1.19 million barrels.

Key points

  • Geopolitical developments remain uncertain as an Iranian official confirmed Tehran and Wa…: Geopolitical developments remain uncertain as an Iranian official confirmed Tehran and Washington remain far from reaching a diplomatic agreement.
  • Broad political uncertainty persists globally while vote counting continues across the Un…: Broad political uncertainty persists globally while vote counting continues across the United States to decide control of Congress.
  • Supply data defied analyst expectations of an 880,000-barrel build ahead of official numb…: Supply data defied analyst expectations of an 880,000-barrel build ahead of official numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

BEIJING, Nov 4 : Oil prices slipped in early trade on Wednesday as investors awaited the results of the US midterm elections and their potential impact on peace talks in the Middle East, even after industry data showed US crude stocks unexpectedly fell last week.

Brent futures fell 26 cents, or 0.25 per cent, to $103.34 a barrel by 0157 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 53 cents, or 0.55 per cent, to $95.56.

In the previous session, Brent eased more than 1 per cent to its lowest level in nearly four weeks as traders weighed talks to end the wars in Ukraine and Iran.

Vote counting was underway in the US midterm elections, which will determine whether Trump's Republican Party retains control of Congress for the rest of his second term.

Markets remained on watch for any progress in talks to end the US-Israeli war with Iran, as Qatar stepped up mediation efforts to avert an escalation of attacks after the US midterm elections.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday that Iran and the United…

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