The oil market continues to decline on Friday, following the dynamics of the previous day. The current Brent oil quote is $80.52 per barrel, which was the lowest since the end of last month. North American WTI oil shows a similar trend: the asset dropped to $76.76 per barrel after rising to $83.27. As a result, quotes may end in the red the first week of the last five. The main drivers of the decline were the strengthening of the US dollar (the dollar index rose by about 0.4% over the week), as well as investors' concerns about further tightening of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks. Market participants assume that this may cause a general deterioration in the global economy and a reduction in fuel demand. On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve published its «Beige Book» – a summary of comments on the economic situation in the country. The regulator said that economic activity in the United States changed slightly in March-April. Also, the markets continue to evaluate statistics from China. China has published statistics on inflation and industrial production. Thus, GDP growth in the first quarter accelerated to 4.5% in annual terms from 2.9% in the fourth quarter of last year. The volume of industrial production in March increased by 3.9% year-on-year, while an increase of 4% was expected. As you know, the oil market is closely monitoring China's economic performance, as this country is one of the largest importers of oil in the world.
