SINGAPORE: Oil prices were steady on Tuesday amid uncertainty about the global economic outlook following the US-EU trade deal, and as investors awaited the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision.
Brent crude futures were up 1 cent at $70.05 a barrel at 8:10 a.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $66.69, down 2 cents.
Both contracts settled more than 2 percent higher in the previous session, and Brent touched its highest level since July 18 on Monday.
The trade agreement between the US and the European Union, while imposing a 15 percent import tariff on most EU goods, sidestepped a full-blown trade war between the two major allies that would have rippled across nearly a third of global trade and dimmed the outlook for fuel demand.
The agreement also calls for $750 billion of EU purchases of US energy in the coming years, which analysts say the EU has virtually no chance of meeting, while European companies are to invest $600 billion in the US over the course of President Donald Trump’s second term.
