Oil prices were lower today as the dollar strengthened. Prices slumped after data was released showing orders for industrial equipment and other machinery fell. Inflation softened somewhat but remained elevated, leading the Fed to raise its interest rate target by \u00bc of a point. The Fed promised \u201congoing increases\u201d, leaving the door open for more rate hikes in the future. “Investors have become less confident in the strength of the outlook; something we could see change repeatedly in this first quarter due to the lack of visibility on interest rates and China’s COVID-19 transition,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA. WTI traded down $.53 or -0.7% to close at $75.88. Brent traded down $.67 or -0.8% to close at $82.17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prices slumped after data was released showing orders for industrial equipment and other machinery fell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-petroleum-daily"],"yoast_head":"\n