Oil trades near six-week high on vague ‘trade deal’

Bloomberg

Oil retreated from a six-week high as ambiguous progress in US-China trade talks and worsening violence in Hong Kong damped sentiment across financial markets.
Futures fell 1.2% in New York after President Donald Trump said that, while discussions with Beijing are moving along “nicely,” a deal hasn’t been reached and he won’t eliminate all tariffs. Meanwhile, Oman’s Oil Minister Mohammed Al Rumhy said Opec and its allies are unlikely to announce deeper output cuts, adding to concerns of a surplus in early 2020.
Oil has rallied around 8% since early October as the US and China moved closer to a limited trade agreement, prompting hedge funds to cautiously revive bets on rising prices. Yet the gaps have been capped as the world’s two biggest oil consumers struggle to clinch a final deal.
“These days it’s largely the trade war” that’s moving prices, Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group and a former oil official at the White House under President George W. Bush, said.

in a Bloomberg TV interview on Monday. “Folks are also looking into early next year and seeing an oversupplied market, and there’s questions whether Opec+ will rise to the challenge.”
WTI for December delivery fell 71 cents, or 1.2%, to $56.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 8:51 a.m. local time. Earlier it slid as much as 1.7%. WTI settled up 0.2% on Friday at $57.24, the highest close since September 24.
Brent for January dropped 0.9% to $61.92 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange after climbing 1.3% last week. The global crude benchmark traded at a $5.34 premium to WTI for the same month.