Oil drops more than USD 2/bbl as OPEC+ accelerates output hikes

SINGAPORE – Oil prices fell more than USD 2 a barrel in early Asian trade on Monday as OPEC+ is set to further speed up oil output hikes, spurring concerns about more supply.

Brent crude futures dropped USD 2.04 a barrel, or 3.33%, to USD 59.25 a barrel by 2240 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at USD 56.19 a barrel, down USD 2.10, or 3.60%.

Both contracts touched their lowest since April 9 at Monday’s open after OPEC+ agreed to accelerate oil production hikes for a second consecutive month, raising output in June by 411,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The June increase from the eight will take the total combined hikes for April, May and June to 960,000 bpd, representing a 44% unwinding of the 2.2 million bpd of various cuts agreed on since 2022, according to Reuters calculations.

“The May 3 OPEC+ decision to raise production quotas another 411,000 bpd for June adds to the market expectation that the global supply/demand balance is moving to a surplus,” Tim Evans, founder of Evans on Energy said in a note.

The group could fully unwind its voluntary cuts by the end of October if members do not improve compliance with their production quotas, OPEC+ sources told Reuters.

OPEC+ sources have said Saudi Arabia is pushing OPEC+ to accelerate the unwinding of earlier output cuts to punish fellow members Iraq and Kazakhstan for poor compliance with their production quotas.

Barclays lowered its Brent forecast by USD 4 to USD 66 a barrel for 2025 and by USD 2 to USD 60 a barrel for 2026 because of the accelerated phase-out by OPEC+, analyst Amarpreet Singh said in a note.

Meanwhile, tensions flared in the Middle East after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate against Iran for the Tehran-backed Houthi group firing a missile that landed near Israel’s main airport.

Iran’s Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said on Sunday that Tehran would strike back if the United States or Israel attacked.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; editing by Diane Craft and Chris Reese)

Trump says he wants a fair trade deal with China

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – US President Donald Trump on Sunday said the US was meeting with many countries, including China, on trade deals, and his main priority with China was to secure a fair trade deal.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he had no plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, but US officials were speaking with Chinese officials about a variety of different things.

Asked if any trade agreements would be announced this week, Trump said that could “very well be” but gave no details.

Trump’s top officials have engaged in a flurry of meetings with trading partners since the president on April 2 imposed a 10% tariff on most countries, along with higher tariff rates for many trading partners that were then suspended for 90 days. He has also imposed 25% tariffs on autos, steel, and aluminum, 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 145% tariffs on China.

He suggested that he did not expect to reach an agreement with some countries, but could instead be “setting a certain tariff” for those trading partners in the next two to three weeks. It was not immediately clear if he was referring to the reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2, which are due to kick in on July 8 after a 90-day pause.

Trump repeated his claim that China had been “ripping us for many years” on global trade, adding that former President Richard Nixon’s move to reach out and establish relations with China was “the worst thing” he ever did.

Trump sounded more upbeat about China and the prospects for reaching an agreement in an interview with NBC News that was taped on Friday and broadcast on Sunday.

In the interview, he acknowledged that he had been “very tough with China,” essentially cutting off trade between the world’s top two economies, but said Beijing now wanted to reach an agreement.

“We’ve gone cold turkey,” he said. “That means we’re not losing a trillion dollars … because we’re not doing business with them right now. And they want to make a deal. They want to make a deal very badly. We’ll see how that all turns out, but it’s got to be a fair deal.”

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Jasper Ward; Editing by Kim Coghill and Himani Sarkar)

Week Ahead: Fed, BoE decisions and trade talks rule

Rate decisions in the US and UK lead event risk this week, while talks between the US and its major trading partners remain in focus, along with hopes of a cooling in Sino-US trade tensions.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep rates on hold at 4.25-4.50% on Wednesday, with markets pricing over 90% chance of no change amid uncertainty on the economic impact of US tariffs. The Fed statement and press conference will be key for markets.

US data begins with the final reading of S&P composite and services PMIs, then ISM services PMI, the trade balance, and weekly jobless claims. Fed officials John Williams, Austan Goolsbee, and Beth Hammack are due to speak.

The Bank of England is expected to cut rates a further 25 basis points to 4.25% on Thursday, according to all 67 economists polled, as the economy softens. The BoE monetary policy report and summary will be closely watched.

Monday is a UK holiday. Industrial and manufacturing production, the NIESR monthly GDP tracker, S&P construction PMI, and final readings of services and composite PMIs are the significant data releases. BoE Governor Andrew Bailey and MPC member Huw Pill speak on Friday.

It is a low-key week in Japan with holidays on Monday and Tuesday. The data releases are limited to final services and composite PMIs, household spending, and overtime pay. The Bank of Japan’s March meeting minutes are due on Thursday.

The euro zone has retail sales and final PMI readings, while Germany has factory orders, industrial output, and trade. The central banks of Sweden and Norway announce their rate decisions on Thursday.

China has a holiday on Monday. Caixin April services PMI is due Tuesday, but the key releases are April trade and inflation data on Friday and Saturday, which are likely to reveal how the trade war is darkening the economic outlook further. Bank lending data may be released.

Canada publishes trade and employment data. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem discusses the Financial Stability Report at a press conference on Thursday.

New Zealand has Q1 employment data and the central bank’s bi-annual Financial Stability Report on Wednesday. Australia has no major data due.

(Andrew Spencer and Krishna Kumar are Reuters market analysts. The views expressed are their own. Editing by Sonali Desai)

Dollar gets limited lift from jobs, trade questions linger

SYDNEY – The dollar was struggling to hold its ground on Monday even as concerns about a US recession eased just a little, while investors awaited actual evidence of a thaw in Sino-US trade relations, as opposed to just hints from officials.

The solid March payrolls report had offered the dollar support by lengthening the odds on a Federal Reserve rate cut in June, and making it more likely the central bank will lean hawkish at its policy meeting this week.

“The labor report leaves little doubt that the FOMC will keep rates on hold this week, and the bar for cutting is now even higher for June,” said Michael Feroli, head of US economics at JPMorgan.

“In a period of high uncertainty, with two-sided risks to the dual mandate, the Fed Committee will prefer to remain patient until there is more clarity in the outlook.”

Markets now imply only a 37% chance of a Fed cut in June, down from 64% a month ago. Goldman Sachs and Barclays both shifted their cut calls to July from June.

Yet it was notable that the dollar had only gotten a limited lift from the jobs data and was having trouble keeping the gains, with turnover in Asia thinned by holidays in Japan and China.

The euro edged up 0.2% to USD 1.1324, and away from last week’s low at USD 1.1266, while the dollar index dipped 0.2% to 99.857.

The dollar also eased 0.2% to 144.63 yen, and away from Friday’s top around 145.91.

Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato walked back comments that seemed to suggest Japan might threaten to sell some of its Treasury holdings as part of trade negotiations with the White House, which are due to continue this week.

WAITING ON CHINA

Speculation that the Trump administration was pressuring Asian countries to strengthen their currencies versus the dollar saw the Taiwanese dollar surge more than 5% last Friday.

While the Chinese Commerce Ministry has indicated Beijing was evaluating an offer from Washington to hold talks over Trump’s 145% tariffs, the two sides still seem far apart.

In a TV interview aired on Sunday, President Donald Trump reiterated that he believed China wanted to do a deal, but offered no details or timeline.

Trump did say he would not attempt to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but also repeated calls for lower interest rates and called the Chair a “stiff”.

The abrupt swings in US policy combined with pressure on the Fed’s independence have shaken investor trust in the dollar, which was still clearly evident in positioning.

Many investors are still wagering on further dollar weakness, with speculative short positions rising further in the latest week, though that also leaves the market vulnerable to a squeeze on any bullish news.

The next hurdle for the dollar will be the ISM survey of services due later on Monday, with a risk a weak reading would revive worries about an economic downturn.

For sterling, the major test this week will be a Bank of England meeting on Thursday where it is widely expected to cut rates a further 25 basis points to 4.25%, and perhaps signal faster easing ahead.

“The reaction in UK gilts and GBP will come from the guidance and whether the door is sufficiently opened for a back-to-back cut at the June meeting, and whether there is the appetite expressed in the statement to ease the bank rate to 3.50% by December,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

Central banks in Norway and Sweden also meet this week and are expected to keep rates steady.

Down Under, the Australian dollar hardly reacted to Saturday’s election, which saw the Labour party’s Anthony Albanese claim a historic second term as prime minister. The Aussie was steady at USD 0.6441, having hit a five-month high on Friday as a solid US jobs report boosted risk appetite globally.

(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

Wall Street stocks buoyed by strong economic data, possible US-China trade talks

NEW YORK – Wall Street stocks advanced on Friday, notching the second straight week of gains, helped by strong economic data and potential easing of trade tensions between the US and China.

The US economy added 177,000 jobs in April, exceeding expectations, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%. The data helped to assuage concerns of an economic slowdown following a Commerce Department report, showing a contraction in US gross domestic product for the first time in three years, weighed down by a tariff-induced flood of imports.

“The stock market is cheering this morning’s payroll report, but I have to point out that job growth did slow on the month, and I haven’t seen too many comments about that,” said Talley Leger, chief market strategist at The Wealth Consulting Group.

“I was a bit surprised because I was expecting a sharper slowdown given that non-farm payroll survey happened the week after the tariffs were announced. So I think the market is taking this in a positive light.”

Beijing said on Friday it was evaluating an offer from Washington to hold talks over President Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs, which he had imposed on Chinese imports.

The tit-for-tat tariffs between the world’s two largest economies have kept investors on edge, with both sides unwilling to be seen backing down in a trade war that has roiled global markets.

Still, Trump’s reversal of some tariffs has helped US stock indexes recover from recent losses. The S&P 500 has erased the slump set off by Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement on April 2, with the index now up 0.3% since the close of April 2. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was trading at levels last seen before April 2.

The S&P 500 also reached its ninth consecutive session of gains, matching a winning streak from 2004, while the Dow hit a nine-day winning streak for the first since December 2023. For the week, the S&P 500 gained 2.9%, the Dow climbed 3%, and the Nasdaq added 3.43%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 564.47 points, or 1.39%, to 41,317.43, the S&P 500 gained 82.54 points, or 1.47%, to 5,686.68, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 266.99 points, or 1.51%, to 17,977.73.

“I do think what today is saying is that the economy is a lot stronger than people thought and a lot more resilient in the face of all of these tariffs and fears about tariffs,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital in New York.

Apple fell nearly 4% after the iPhone maker trimmed its share buyback program by USD 10 billion and CEO Tim Cook told analysts that tariffs could add about USD 900 million in costs this quarter.

Other so-called Magnificent Seven stocks, such as Meta Platform, rose 4.3%, and Nvidia gained 2.6%. Amazon dipped 0.1%.

Chevron rose 1.6% and ExxonMobil gained 0.4% after both energy giants reported quarterly results.

Block slumped 20% after cutting its profit forecast for 2025 and missing estimates for quarterly earnings.

Video game maker Take-Two Interactive fell nearly 7% after it delayed the release of “Grand Theft Auto VI” to May 2026.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.81-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 144 new highs and 47 new lows on the NYSE.

The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 51 new highs and 38 new lows.

Volume on US exchanges was 15.99 billion shares, compared with the 19.3 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Aurora Ellis)

Oil ends at four-year lows as OPEC+ accelerates output hikes

NEW YORK/LONDON – Oil fell by more than USD 1 a barrel on Monday to settle at over four-year lows as an OPEC+ decision to expedite its output hikes stoked fears about rising global supply at a time when the demand outlook is uncertain.

Brent crude futures settled at USD 60.23 a barrel, down USD 1.06, or 1.7%. US West Texas Intermediate crude fell USD 1.16, or 2%, to end at USD 57.13 a barrel. Both benchmarks settled at their lowest since February 2021.

Last week, Brent shed 8.3% and WTI lost 7.5% after Saudi Arabia signaled it could cope with a prolonged lower price environment. That offset optimism on the demand side that US-China tariff talks could occur, Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said.

On Saturday, OPEC+ agreed to further speed up oil production hikes for a second consecutive month, raising output in June by 411,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The June increase by eight participants in the OPEC+ group, which includes allies like Russia, will take the total combined hikes for April, May and June to 960,000 bpd. That represents a 44% unwinding of the 2.2 million bpd of various cuts agreed on since 2022, according to Reuters calculations.

“For the producers outside of the OPEC+ group, which is now nearly 60% of global oil supply, the market share gains may have reached a peak if these new barrels are fed into the market and prices move lower,” said Peter McNally, a Third Bridge analyst.

The group could fully unwind its voluntary cuts by the end of October if members do not improve compliance with their production quotas, OPEC+ sources told Reuters.

OPEC+ sources have said Saudi Arabia is pushing OPEC+ to speed up the unwinding of earlier output cuts to punish fellow members Iraq and Kazakhstan for poor compliance with their production quotas.

“The production increase, instigated by Saudi Arabia, is as much about challenging US shale supply as it is to penalize members that have benefited from higher prices while flouting their production limits,” Saxo Bank’s Hansen said.

ING and Barclays have also lowered their Brent crude forecasts following the OPEC+ decision.

Barclays reduced its Brent forecast by USD 4 to USD 66 a barrel for 2025 and by USD 2 to USD 60 for 2026, while ING expects Brent to average USD 65 this year, down from USD 70 previously.

“Expectations of mounting global oil inventories in the coming months given the demand deterioration expected off of the Trump tariffs is tending to accentuate bearish supply-side news,” Jim Ritterbusch, of US energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note.

Widespread recession fears and weak refined fuel import demand are also weighing on oil prices, said David Wech, chief economist at Vortexa, adding that since mid-February the data analytics firm had noted an approximate 150 million-barrel build in global crude stocks in onshore tanks and on tankers at sea.

Oil below USD 50 a barrel could hurt final investment decisions for offshore projects, Girish Saligram, CEO of oilfield services company Weatherford International, said at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.

“If we see prices sustain below USD 50 a barrel, I think it could create a little bit of a lull for some of the new final investment decisions,” Saligram said.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York and Robert Harvey in London, Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by David Gregorio and Marguerita Choy)

Oil up 2% as Trump threatens new sanctions on Iran

HOUSTON – Oil prices settled nearly 2% higher on Thursday after US President Donald Trump threatened secondary sanctions on Iran after a fourth round of US-Iran talks was postponed.

Brent crude futures settled at USD 62.13 a barrel, up USD 1.07, 1.8%, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures closed USD 1.03, or 1.8%, higher at USD 59.24 a barrel.

Trump said all purchases of Iranian oil or petrochemical products must stop and any country or person buying any from the country would be immediately subject to secondary sanctions.

His comments follow the postponement of talks. which had been due to take place in Rome on Saturday, over Iran’s nuclear program. A senior Iranian official told Reuters a new date will be set depending on the US approach.

“If the Trump administration is successful in enforcing secondary sanctions on the purchase of Iranian oil that could lead to a reduction in supply of about a million and a half, barrels per day,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates.

“These low prices of oil are giving the Trump administration cover to more strictly enforce those sanctions, especially at a time that OPEC+ is producing well over their quota and looking to increase production.”

Several OPEC+ members are set to suggest the group accelerates output hikes in June for a second consecutive month, three people familiar with OPEC+ talks have said. Eight OPEC+ countries will meet on May 5 to decide a June output plan.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is telling allies and industry experts that it is unwilling to prop up the oil market with supply cuts and can manage a prolonged period of low prices, sources told Reuters.

On the demand side, however, the US economy contracted for the first time in three years in the first quarter, data showed on Wednesday, swamped by a flood of imports as businesses raced to avoid higher costs from tariffs and underscoring the disruptive impact of Trump’s unpredictable trade policy.

Trump’s tariffs have made it probable the global economy will slip into recession this year, a Reuters poll suggested.

(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston, Mohi Narayan in New Delhi, Editing by Marguerita Choy and Susan Fenton)

US yields rise after better-than-expected manufacturing report

May 1 – US Treasury yields rose from three-week lows on Thursday after a better-than-expected manufacturing report for April, which also showed that tariffs on imported goods were straining supply chains and maintaining elevated prices for inputs.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said that its manufacturing PMI dropped to a five-month low of 48.7 last month, beating economists’ forecasts for a drop to 48.

The survey’s measure of prices paid by manufacturers for inputs rose to 69.8, the highest level since June 2022.

“It’s cold comfort that the ISM Manufacturing index came in better than expected. It’s more like it came in less bad than expected. The collapse of production and new export orders along with an increase in domestic orders suggests that costs are rising and activity is falling. That’s not a great combination,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.

Traders are balancing the risks that tariffs implemented by US President Donald Trump will slow growth and increase inflation, with higher price pressures potentially delaying when the US Federal Reserve is likely to resume interest rate cuts.

“What we’ve heard from the FOMC so far is that they want to prioritize inflation expectations in any case where there’s lower growth and stubbornly high inflation,” said Will Compernolle, macro strategist at FHN Financial.

Fed funds futures traders are pricing in a 58% likelihood of a rate cut in June, down from 68% earlier on Thursday, and only a 5% chance of a rate reduction at the Fed’s May 6-7 meeting, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

Yields fell to a more than three-week low earlier on Thursday after data showed that the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week.

Friday’s employment report for April is expected to show that employers added 130,000 jobs during the month, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%.

The labor market has remained relatively resilient, which has allowed the US central bank to keep interest rates on hold as it also watches for signs of a potential resurgence in inflation.

Yields surged early last month after Trump announced larger-than-expected tariffs on trading partners, but have fallen since he offered a 90-day pause on most tariff increases.

Traders are now focused on what deals will be reached between the United States and trading partners, and are watching for when the expected impact of the trade levies are seen in the “hard” economic data.

“If you exclude all of the sentiment surveys and the corporate earnings calls and what you would call anecdotal evidence, there’s nothing in the hard data flashing red that says the Fed has to cut rates right now. So, they’re waiting for any of these fears to channel into the hard data,” Compernolle said.

Trump said on Wednesday that he has “potential” trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan.

The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes was last up 5.6 basis points to 4.231% after earlier reaching 4.124%, the lowest since April 7.

The two-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, rose 8.4 basis points to 3.705%. It earlier fell to 3.558%, also the lowest since April 7.

The yield curve between two-year and 10-year notes flattened by around 3 basis points to 52 basis points.

(Reporting By Karen Brettell; Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Freya Whitworth Hardcastle and Will Dunham)

Gold falls as trade tensions soften, US data on tap

Gold fell nearly 1% on Tuesday as signals of easing US-China trade tensions reduced some safe-haven demand, while investors braced for key economic data this week to gauge the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook.

Spot gold was down 0.8% at USD 3,315.84 an ounce as of 2:22  pm ET (1822 GMT). US gold futures settled 0.4% lower at USD 3,333.6.

“There is some optimism that there will be some de-escalation of the trade war between the US and China,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.

President Donald Trump’s administration plans to lessen the effect of auto tariffs by lowering taxes on foreign parts used in US-made cars and making sure imported cars are not hit with multiple tariffs, officials said.

Softening trade tensions have caused a sell-off in safe-haven gold, a traditional hedge against rising global instabilities, which had risen in an unprecedented rally to notch a record high at USD 3,500.05/oz last week.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that several top trading partners had made “very good” proposals to avoid US tariffs. China’s recent moves to exempt certain US goods from its retaliatory tariffs showed a willingness to de-escalate trade tensions, Bessent added.

Investors’ radar is now on a slew of important US economic data this week, including the personal consumption expenditures price index on Wednesday, and a monthly non-farm payrolls report on Friday.

“Looking at the key level in the near-term, USD 3,500 would be a fair level where you’re going to see people stepping in and starting to liquidate, which is normal ebb and flow of the market,” said Michael Matousek, head trader at US Global Investors.

“For quarter-end, we could probably see gold up at USD 3,590. For the year-end, I would put the forecast at USD 3,800 an ounce.”

Spot silver shed 0.4% to USD 33.02 an ounce, platinum eased about 1% to USD 976.50, and palladium fell 1.3% to USD 936.41.

(Reporting by Anjana Anil and Sarah Qureshi in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)

Oil prices fall 2% to 2-week low as trade war concerns dampen demand outlook

NEW YORK – Oil prices fell about 2% to a two-week low on Tuesday as investors braced for OPEC+ to boost output and worried US President Donald Trump’s tariffs would hit the global economy and slow demand for the fuel.

Brent crude futures fell by USD 1.61, or 2.4%, to settle at USD 64.25 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped by USD 1.63, or 2.6%, to settle at USD 60.42.

Both benchmarks posted the lowest settlement since April 10.

Trump’s aggressive tariffs on imports into the US have made it probable the global economy will slip into recession this year, according to a majority of economists in a Reuters poll.

China, hit with the steepest tariffs, has responded with its own levies against US imports, stoking a trade war between the top two oil-consuming nations. Analysts have sharply lowered their oil demand and price forecasts.

“Trade between China and the US has slowed to a semi-embargo type flow. Every day that passes without some kind of deal with any of our significant trade partners brings us one day closer to a global demand destruction situation,” Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho, said in a note.

The US trade deficit in goods widened to a record high in March as businesses ramped up efforts to bring in merchandise ahead of Trump’s sweeping tariffs, suggesting trade was a large drag on economic growth in the first quarter.

The fallout from Trump’s trade war reverberated through the corporate world on Tuesday, as delivery giant UPS UPS.N said it would cut 20,000 jobs to lower costs. Auto maker General Motors pulled its outlook and pushed its investor call to Thursday pending possible changes to trade policy.

Trump was set to soften the blow of his auto tariffs through an executive order mixing credits with relief from other levies on parts and materials, after automakers pressed their case with the administration.

UK oil major BP reported a deeper-than-expected 48% drop in net profit to USD 1.4 billion on weaker refining and gas trading.

The energy market awaits earnings from US oil majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron this week.

PRODUCTION RISING

Several members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies in OPEC+ will suggest an acceleration of output hikes for a second straight month in June, sources told Reuters last week.

“Another production hike from OPEC+ could not happen at a worse time when sentiment is already weak, and with Kazakhstan not showing much interest in reducing production,” said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen.

OPEC+ member Kazakhstan increased oil exports by 7% year-on-year in January-March thanks to a supply boost via the Caspian pipeline, Reuters calculations based on official data and sources showed on Tuesday.

US OIL INVENTORIES

US oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute trade group was due on Tuesday and from the US EIA on Wednesday.

Analysts forecast energy firms added about 0.5 million barrels of oil to US stockpiles during the week ended April 25.

If correct, that would be the fifth weekly build in a row and compares with an increase of 7.3 million barrels during the same week last year and an average build of 3.2 million barrels over the past five years (2020-2024).

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York, Enes Tunagur in London and Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by Sonali Paul, Saad Sayeed, Tomasz Janowski, Joe Bavier, Rod Nickel, and David Gregorio)

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