The price of crude oil declined slightly after the latest OPEC+ meeting. The leaders met during the weekend and agreed to gradually ease some of its production cuts between May and July.
Will OPEC extend cuts?
They agreed to increase production by about 350,000 barrels in May and June and by 400,000 in July. This decision came shortly after the Biden administration told Saudi Arabia to prevent a substantial rally of oil prices in a bid to keep prices cheap for consumers. It also came a few weeks after oil prices declined from their multi-year highs. Brent is trading at $64.70 while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell to $61.30.
Bitcoin and other digital currencies rallied during the weekend as investors looked forward to high demand for the currencies. Bitcoin moved above $60,000 and faced some resistance that pushed it below $58,000. Ether held steady above $2,000 while XRP rose to $0.68. Other top currencies like Cardano, Stellar Lumens, and Bitcoin Cash also rallied during the weekend. This really is mostly because of the rising demand as more institutional investors moved to buy the coin.
The economic calendar will be relatively muted today since many countries are celebrating their Easter holiday. The key data to watch will be the US ISM non-manufacturing PMI numbers from the United States.
Crude Oil Price Retreats as OPEC+ supply Hikes
Analysts expect the data to come in at 58.5, up from the previous 55.3. This growth will be because of the reopening, which has led to positive business activity. Last week, the manufacturing PMI numbers were relatively positive. Other key numbers to watch will be the Turkish consumer inflation numbers and the Singapore retail sales data.
