Oil prices fall as investors weigh higher interest rates and inventory data

price action

• WTI August delivery
  
  CL00
  

  CL.1
  

  CLQ23
  

  It fell $1.08, or 1.5%, to $71.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

• Brent August
  
  BRN00
  

  BRNQ23
  
  And
  The global benchmark fell $1.14, or 1.5%, to $76.02 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe platform.

• Back to Nymex, July Gasoline
  
  RBN23
  

  It fell 1.9% to $2,574 a gallon, while heating oil fell for the month of July
  
  Hon 23
  

  It fell 1.2% to $2,534 a gallon.

• Natural gas for the month of July
  
  NGN23
  

  It rose 0.4% to $2.607 per million British thermal units.

Market drivers

Oil saw gains on Wednesday even though Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell confirmed that more interest rate increases were on the way to lower inflation. The Bank of England was expected to deliver another rate hike on Thursday, following a half-point rate hike by the Norwegian central bank.

Markets are split between expectations for a 25 or 50 basis point rise.

And a source said, quoting the data, that US oil stocks fell late Wednesday by 1.2 million barrels last week, while gasoline stocks rose by 2.9 million barrels, and distillate output fell by 300 thousand barrels.

Closely watched US Energy Information Administration data is due Thursday morning. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Commodity Insights expected, on average, crude inventories to show a decline of 2 million barrels, while gasoline stocks are expected to decline by 1 million barrels, with distillate unchanged.