Crude oil was little changed early Monday amid worries over supply disruptions with escalating crisis between Russia and Ukraine after the Crimean vote.
The energy markets are taking a breather from last week`s hectic rout, with traders bracing for further risks from deepning turmoil in Ukraine, after an overwhelming majority of Crimean voted on Sunday to secede from the coutnry and Join Russia, in a public referendum that Western leaders had declared illegal and vowed to punish with economic sanctions. But the annexation is so far the final resort, after nearly 95% of Crimeans voted yesterday to break away from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.
As of 04:03 a.m. ET:
- WTI Crude for April delivery stood flat at $98.90 a barrel
- Brent Crude was down 0.30% at $108.88 a barrel
As we can see, last week`s slide, which saw prices tumbling to their lowest in two weeks, was brought to a halt by renewed worries over supply disruption from Russia, one of the world`s top oil and gas exporters.
Meanwhile, the US and European union, who were quick to criticize the vote against internationl and Ukrainian vlaw, are expected to impose painful measures against selected Russian targets today.
The geopolitical tension in Ukraine will keep the any further losses on pause this week, as fears over supply disruption across Europe will probably hammer the market if the Ukraine conflict escalates to war.
Following three months of severe weather in the US, the March Empire state report from manufacturing activity will be in focus, with an upbeat forecast calling for an increase to 7.00 from 4.48 in February.
Industrial production will offer also the first hard manfuacturing data for the snowbound February, with output probably growing 0.2%, following 0.3% slump a month ago.