"Oil prices climb as default fears fade"

" Oil prices climb as default fears fade \r\n\r\nCrude oil began trading this week with a gain after President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were\u00a0 reported \u00a0to have reached a provisional agreement on raising the debt ceiling.\r\n\r\nAt the time of writing,\u00a0 Brent crude \u00a0was trading at over $77 per barrel and\u00a0 West Texas Intermediate was changing hands at over $73 per barrel.\r\n\r\nDebt ceiling negotiations have been a major factor for oil price movements in the past couple of weeks, mostly because of the apparent inability of Republicans and Democrats in Congress to strike any semblance of an agreement on how to increase the federal government\u2019s borrowing power.\r\n\r\nAccording to early\u00a0 reports on the tentative deal, it involves flat spending over the next two years and the recycling of unused Covid funds.\r\n\r\nAlthough such tense negotiations have been relatively regular in past years, they have eventually ended with an agreement, and default has invariably been avoided.\r\n\r\nThis historical evidence could have served to stabilize prices but it did not, and neither did mixed data about China\u2019s recovery. On the one hand, PMI readings are showing an uneven rebound in economic activity, but on the other, demand for oil as evidenced by import rates, is going strong.\r\n\r\nTo complicate the picture further, OPEC+ is reportedly in two minds about what to do with its output at its next meeting.\r\n\r\nAccording to reports quoting Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman, he has hinted at another round of output cuts.\r\n\r\nAccording to reports quoting Russia\u2019s Deputy Prime Minister and top OPEC+ official Alexander Novak, the co-leader of the extended cartel is fine with production where it is right now.\r\n\r\nThanks to its recent gains, oil\u2019s decline since the start of the year has shrunk from about 14% earlier this month to just 9% as of the start of this week, according to\u00a0 Bloomberg ."

"Oil prices climb as default fears fade"

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