On Tuesday morning, oil prices continued to decline moderately after a sharp drop the day before. The current price of Brent oil is $78.36 per barrel, North American WTI oil is trading near $75.08. In yesterday's session, both brands ended in the red for the third week in a row. Analysts note that oil prices have declined due to concerns about demand in China, the world's largest oil importer. Markets were shaken by a series of negative economic news from China: manufacturing activity in the country probably declined for the third month in a row in July. The market's attention is also focused on the upcoming meeting of the Chinese Politburo, where decisions can be made on further support for economic policy. However, expectations from this event are low, as the Third Plenum, a key political meeting in mid-July, mostly confirmed current economic goals and failed to improve market sentiment. In addition, oil fell by 2% after Israel announced that its response to Hezbollah's missile strike on the occupied Golan Heights would be thought out in such a way as to avoid dragging the Middle East into a full-scale conflict. It also became known that weekly oil supplies from Russia fell to the lowest level since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Tomorrow, you should pay attention to the publication of the report of the US Department of Energy. It is expected that it will show a reduction in oil reserves in the country by 3.9 million barrels. And if the reduction is greater than expected, it may support oil prices. On Monday, the US Department of Energy announced the purchase of 4.56 million barrels of oil for the strategic reserve.
