OIL & USD - Markets & outlook
Brent Crude Oil - OIL:
Crude has collapsed by about a fifth this year as Trump's increasingly aggressive trade agenda has eviscerated appetite for risk assets, with oil joining other commodities and equities in a swift and deep global market slump.
US President Donald Trump's push for lower energy prices has prompted brokers to slash their oil price targets and investors to rapidly pull money from the sector.
Brokers from Westpac to Citi are now tipping the oil price to trade in the $US60 to US65 a range and JPMorgan has even suggested an oil price in the $US50s could be on the cards.
Oil underpins every aspect of contemporary life, from transport, to packaging, to food production. Even as sustainability reduces reliance on non-renewable resources, crude looks set to maintain its central economic role — and its pivotal position as a geopolitical catalyst.
Since the 1960s, demand for oil has grown consistently in line with global GDP at a rate of around 1 to 2 million barrels per day each year. The future is likely to look very different to the past, however, as new technologies disrupt demand for oil products in key sectors.