During the Tuesday trading session, the oil futures market remained sideways after a mixed outlook from China. For the most part, the data coming out from China was weaker than expected, which had a negative effect on the oil.
In addition, the USA is also planning to refill its oil reserves once again. When looking at this news, we can't deny the fact that the USA is one of the top importers of crude oil. This news has thus helped in underpinning the oil prices after mixed news from China.
Furthermore, the recent wildfires in Canada have also raised worries about the oil supply. So that's yet another factor that is supporting the oil prices for now.
Over all, the prices of crude oil remain unchanged as there are mixed signals in the market. When checked last time, the TWI was trading at $71.1 / barrel with a decline of 0.01%. Similarly, the Brent Crude Futures was up by $0.01 and was last seen near $75.24 per barrel.
To put it short, both of these benchmark indexes had minor to no gains, but the important thing is that they managed to avoid any losses as well.
Elsewhere, the US Department of Energy revealed its plan to buy 3M crude oil barrels to refill the strategic reserves. According to the details, the interested parties can submit their offer before 31st May. This news will most likely boost the oil prices as the USA will have to buy a lot of crude oil.
In addition, some investors are also involved in bargain hunting after the recent decline in crude oil prices.
However, the major negative news for oil prices is the pressure coming from China. During April, the retail sales and the industrial output growth were not as strong as the market expectations.
This is an indication that China's economy has lost momentum as it enters the latter half of 2023.