Today the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is holding a meeting in its Vienna headquarters. The original purpose of the meeting was to determine whether to extend the previous agreement of the member states to keep production output limited until the oil market stabilizes.
However, the coronavirus epidemic has caused an unexpected decrease in the demand for oil. Thus, OPEC is now pushing for a deeper cut of 1.5 million barrels per day to prevent oversupply. This cut depends on the cooperation of Russia and other non-OPEC members, though. It may prove problematic because Russia has previously shown it is unwilling to cut production further and allow the United States to claim more and more of the oil market in the meantime.
Today the Brent crude is trading around $51.23, while the WTI reached $46.80 per barrel.
Meanwhile, despite President Trump’s earlier statement that the number of patients with Covid-19 in the US will drop from 15 to zero, now there have been over 150 cases registered, with 11 confirmed deaths in the United States. The government announced a dedicated spending plan to tackle the epidemic and prevent the further spread of the virus.
Unsurprisingly, the stock markets continue to suffer losses as investors remain wary of the coronavirus and its impact. The Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Stoxx 600 all marked losses today.
