The price of a barrel on the London market fell last week by 1.1 percent to 86.66 dollars. While on the American market, it fell by 2 percent to 79.68 dollars.
After two weeks of growth, prices fell last week because traders had worries about the slowdown in the growth of Western economies, especially the American one, reports Mina.
Although the new data showed that the US economy is still growing steadily, its central bank will continue to raise interest rates to suppress inflation. This will inevitably slow down the economy’s growth and, thus, oil demand.
Fed leaders should raise interest rates again by 0.25 percentage points at this week’s meeting.
Previous Situation
The markets got a boost from the USA’s data. Last week, stocks grew by 500,000 barrels more than expected.
Traders are also pleased with the data on the development of the US gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of last year, at the examined rate of 2.9 percent.
Nevertheless, growth stalled extensively at the end of the year, with an annual rate of one percent, nearly half that of the previous quarter, as increased interest rates curbed demand.
