Weekly Market Update - 25 September 2023

Oil Price Near $100

With the benchmark for Brent crude close to $95 a barrel, traders and analysts are increasingly talking about when — not if — prices for oil will go back above $100. “We’re certainly moving in that direction,” says Chevron Corp. CEO Mike Wirth, who reckons the underlying economy can withstand such a price spike. Meanwhile, premiums for physical barrels are surging across the world as refiners clamber to make enough diesel ahead of a seasonal ramp up in demand.

Source: Bloomberg

FED Unchanged

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday signaled that US borrowing costs will likely stay higher for longer, putting upward pressure on market interest rates across the curve even as it kept its overnight target range for the fed funds rate unchanged for now. New forecasts showed 12 out of 19 officials believe there’s probably still one more quarter-point hike to come this year and Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank plans “to hold policy at a restrictive level” until it’s “confident that inflation is moving down sustainably” toward the Fed’s objective. Short-end Treasury yields led the charge higher, with the two-year benchmark touching its highest level since 2006, while US stocks took a hit.

Source: Bloomberg

Murdoch Steps Down

Rupert Murdoch, one of the most influential and controversial figures in the media world, is stepping down as chairman of his Fox Corp. and News Corp. empire following a nearly seven-decade career. Murdoch, 92, served as an unabashedly conservative voice with ownership of newspapers in the US, UK and his native Australia. He amassed a television conglomerate that includes US cable news juggernaut Fox News, and his reach made him a kingmaker in global conservative politics and reshaped the media and entertainment landscapes on both sides of the Atlantic. His son Lachlan Murdoch, 52, will take over.

Source: Bloomberg