The situation on the oil market has stabilized by the end of the week, but it remains difficult. Brent crude oil quotes are again trying to return to the range of $75-78 per barrel after another test of the minimum values of the year. The current quote of the asset is $75.20 per barrel. Oil prices were supported by an improvement in market sentiment, supported by American statistics. The final estimate of US GDP growth for the first quarter exceeded the previous estimate by 0.7%, based on an upward revision of a number of components – primarily consumption. The Ministry of Finance raised the estimate to 2% from the previously announced 1.3%. Together with the weekly data on the labor market, which also turned out to be quite good, this confirms the expectations of stable consumption, including fuel demand. An additional upward impulse was given by the statistics on crude oil reserves in the United States. According to the Ministry of Energy of the country, stocks of raw materials last week fell by 9.6 million barrels instead of the expected decrease of 4.8 million barrels. At the same time, expectations of further tightening of monetary policy by the world's leading central banks, as well as uncertainty about the Chinese economy, remain a constraining factor for the oil market. Analysts believe that there are risks of a new test of the $70-72 per barrel mark in the coming days, especially when negative news about business activity appears after the holiday period in the United States.
