OIL PRICES

摘要

Pessimism has weighed on oil prices in recent weeks amid growing anxiety over the US-China trade war, which is hitting global supply chains, not to mention demand for commodities. Brent dropped to US$60.70 per barrel on July 17 from the US$65-range afewdays earlier, and fell further, to US$57.13 on August 12. Waning global demand as well as booming US shale output represent acute downside factors. The onus is on OPEC to curtail supply in an effort to support prices; indeed, Saudi officials indicated on August 7 that a further slide in oil prices would not be tolerated. The markets did breathe a small sigh of relief on August 13 (after our survey deadline) when the US decided to delay the next round of tariffs on Chinese goods, but have since been buffeted again by further bad economic news from Germany and China.