After a strong start, Brent prices turned slightly negative on Tuesday afternoon and touched an intraday low at $104.53/b, pressured by a stronger USD following Lael Brainard’s statement (see Macro comment) and renewed concerns over the impact on China’s crude oil demand of an extended COVID lockdown in Shanghai (confirmed by a dwindling services PMI…
The widely awaited intervention of Lael Brainard, member of the Fed’s Board of Governors, gave clear indications on the acceleration of the monetary tightening expected in the coming months to bring inflation down in the US (where it reached 7.9% yoy in Feb-22). A series of higher-than-expected interest rate hikes (up to 50 basis points) and…
Except in France where prices were supported by higher gas prices and forecasts of stronger demand, the European power spot prices went down yesterday, pressured by the currently surging wind output. The day-ahead prices averaged 189.93€/MWh in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, -51.09€/MWh day-on-day, and reached 317.50€/MWh in France, +23.30€/MWh from the previous day. After…
As we reported yesterday morning, the Biden Administration has announced that it will draw on its strategic reserves in a colossal way, as nearly 1mb/d of oil will be put on the market for about 6 months, or a total of 180mb. President Biden said he hoped that allied countries could add 30-50mb of their own…
European gas balances remained comfortable yesterday, thanks in particular to strong pipeline supply. Indeed, Russian flows were up, averaging 269 mm cm/day, compared to 253 mm cm/day on Wednesday. Norwegian flows increased to 325 mm cm/day on average, compared to 319 mm cm/day on Wednesday. But it was Moscow’s statements that captured the market’s full…
