Commodities
Oil Falls In Skittish Trade as Powell Avoids Rate-Cut Signals
- Oil hub of Houston has moved past worst effects of storm Beryl
- Fed’s Powell delivers monetary policy report to Congress
Oil dropped in a session marked by wild price swings as traders dissected Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress.
West Texas Intermediate fell 1.1% tp settle below $82 a barrel as thin liquidity exacerbated price swings within a roughly $1 range. Earlier, prices traded above $82 a barrel after Powell said the labor market has “cooled considerably,” but further comments that avoided sending signals about imminent rate cuts caused markets to give up previous gains.