Oil Moves Higher, Shrugging Off Trump Call for OPEC to Pump More

(Bloomberg) -- Oil erased a day of losses to move higher, joining a rebound in equity markets despite President Donald Trump’s complaint that OPEC needs to pump more crude and lower prices..Futures in New York rose as much as 0.3 percent after closing the day slightly down at the end of official trading. The S&P 500 Index also rallied as Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams downplayed fears of a recession and U.S. trade officials landed in Beijing to resume trade talks..Futures had fallen for the second straight day after Trump tweeted that prices were “getting too high." But that also attracted investors who still had faith in the rally, propelled by OPEC production cuts, that has pushed crude up 30 percent this year, according Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities USA in New York..“They will continue to push until the upside goes sour," he said. “They view these opportunities as a buy-the-dip thing rather than time to bail.".Still, there were signs of strain within the producer alliance that agreed to slash output late last year. Russia may only agree to a three-month extension of output cuts and it’s facing internal pressure to start pumping more oil, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter..Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia led the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners to reaffirm their commitment to the cuts, but the Saudis agreed to defer until June a decision on whether to extend the curbs. American sanctions on OPEC members Iran and Venezuela have also propped up prices..Prices slid immediately after Trump’s tweet, but “we bounced off the lows pretty convincingly, and I think that’s because everybody knows the Saudis are not going to bow to him,” said Bob Iaccino, chief market strategist at Chicago-based Path Trading Partners. “OPEC wants $70.”.West Texas Intermediate for May delivery gained 10 cents to $59.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 4:59 p.m. Brent for the same month, which expires Friday, added 17 cents to $68 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange..Crude was already under pressure after an unexpected surge in U.S. oil stockpiles on Wednesday. A jump in gasoline storage in the New York Harbor area unnerved investors as well, leading to a slide in the gasoline crack spread used as a proxy for profit margins..“If that goes lower, that implies you don’t need as much gasoline," Yawger said .“That implies you don’t need as much crude oil to make gasoline and that just sends the whole chain of command on a downward spiral.".Other oil-market news:Gasoline futures slipped 0.4 percent to $1.8881 a gallon.Deep-water explorers from Royal Dutch Shell Plc to Talos Energy Inc.told investors at a conference in New Orleans this week they see a revival coming.Saudi Aramco could issue its first ever international bonds as early as next week for about $10 billion to help acquire petrochemicals giant Sabic, according to people with knowledge of the matter..--With assistance from James Thornhill, Sharon Cho, Guy Johnson and Alex Longley..To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Nussbaum in New York at anussbaum1@bloomberg.net.To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Marino at dmarino4@bloomberg.net, Carlos Caminada, Joe Carroll.©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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Oil Moves Higher, Shrugging Off Trump Call for OPEC to Pump More

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