Brent Corrects As Geopolitical Tension Dies Down

Brent dipped a bit on Tuesday as geopolitical tension which has caused supply concerns began to ease. The commodity traded at $107.23 at 5:45 GMT on Tuesday morning as demand worries came into focus. A civil war in Syria and the Egyptian political crisis have both pushed Brent prices higher over the past few days, but no news of escalation from either situation has caused Brent to drop as investors take profits and the commodity corrects. The political crisis in Egypt drove Brent prices to their biggest weekly gain in a year on Friday, as investors worried about shutdowns in the Suez Canal, where a massive portion of the world's oil is shipped. However the canal has remained uninterrupted, and following the military overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi, many are hoping for a quick recovery. Despite fierce protests between supporters and opponents of the Islamist president, Egypt's new temporary head of state is working to push the country forward without any further violence.

reported that Adly Mansour has dissolved the nation's parliament and late on Monday night, set a timetable for new elections which he hopes will pull the country from its current state of crisis. Moving forward, investors will be waiting for Chinese data which could indicate that the number two oil consuming nation's economic growth has fallen to a 23 year low. Chinese annual consumer inflation grew to 2.7 percent, a figure well above expectations. The increasing consumer inflation data will likely keep the nation's central bank from loosening monetary policy to promote growth in the stalling economy.