Investing.com – Crude prices settled a little lower on Tuesday as oil bulls fought to keep the market above key support after President Trump disappointed traders again over “phase one” of the U.S.-China deal.
Equity to oil and forex to bond dealers had expected Trump’s luncheon address to the New York Economic Club to yield clues on the timing and location for the agreement between the president and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. But Trump offered neither.
Bulls, who initially held up prices of West Texas Intermediate and London’s Brent, the respective benchmarks for U.S. and U.K. crude, relented at the close, letting them slip.
WTI settled down 8 cents at $56.80 per barrel.
Brent also closed down by 8 cents at $62.10.
Bulls have been trying to keep the U.S. crude benchmark at $57 while defending its London peer above $62.
Trump said the phase-one deal with China "could happen soon, but we will only accept the deal if it is good for the United States, and our workers and our great companies". It was something traders had heard many times before from him.
The president also said no country "cheated" more than China on trade, adding that he was “not saying it on record … only to the cameras here.”
Oil was pressured too on Tuesday by expectations that U.S. crude inventories rose again last week, climbing by 1.6 million barrels after the previous week’s jump of nearly 8 million barrels.