Brent Prices Shaky on Fed Stimulus Speculation

Brent crude oil continued to be driven by speculation that the US Federal Reserve will cut back on its stimulus spending starting in September and traded at $109.31 at 8:00 GMT on Wednesday morning. With a Fed meeting on September 17th in focus, investors have been pouring over US economic indicators in order to better predict when the US central bank is planning to taper the stimulus plan that has kept commodities afloat. US retail sales data released on Tuesday showed that consumer spending in the number one oil consuming nation was picking up. The positive data was seen by many as another reason the Fed will consider reducing its $85 billion per month stimulus spending. Although uncertainty over the Fed's stimulus spending has put pressure on Brent prices, the commodity has been supported by supply disruptions in Africa and the Middle East. Labor issues have led to wide spread protests which shut down several of Libya's largest export terminals.

, reported that National Oil Corp. issued a statement saying that it could not provide September loading schedules because of the ongoing strikes. In Iraq, oil exports are expected to be reduced by 500,000 barrels per day in September as one of the nation's key southern oil export hubs will be undergoing scheduled maintenance. Moving forward most analysts agree that the market is oversupplied and demand hasn't risen quite enough to match supplies. Investors will have their eyes on the US as more key economic data comes in ahead of the Fed meeting.