Investors Look for Clues from Fed Chair’s Speech Today
August 27, 2021
Energy prices closed lower in yesterday’s trading session for the first time in a week. The softness in the market was on the back of oil demand concerns over rising COVID-19 cases, the US dollar bouncing from support, and Mexico restoring some of its recent lost production.
Offering support to prices this morning as Tropical Storm Ida which formed in the Atlantic and is expected to become a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Offshore oil workers are being evacuated from oil platforms in the Gulf. The National Hurricane Center updated forecast shows that Tropical Storm Ida is expected to turn into a hurricane and hit the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi this Sunday around 2 PM. This storm will reduce oil production and that is supportive to price near term. Exxon Mobile said it is preparing its 520,000 BPD Baton Rouge, LA refinery for severe weather this weekend but was operational yesterday.
The Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, will speak today at the annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium Conference. This is an exclusive gathering of central bankers held to foster discussion about current policy matters. Investors will be looking for clues in Powell’s remarks about when the Fed may begin to taper their large-scale assets purchases.