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Oil prices edged lower on Thursday, as after US President Donald Trump complained about recent crude gains.
Brent crude futures were down 34 cents, or 0.5%, at $69.43 a barrel at 11:32 a.m. ET (1532 GMT) . U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 18 cents, or 0.3%, to $67.97 a barrel.
President Trump expressed frustration on Thursday that oil prices have risen amid supply concerns from potential conflict in the Middle East.
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“I don’t like – the oil prices have gone up just a little bit over the last few days,” Trump said at a White House event. “It’s gonna keep going down a little bit, right? Because we have inflation under control.”
Oil traders are assessing whether the previous day’s jump to the highest prices in more than two months had adequately priced in risks for crude oil supply from mounting tensions in the Middle East.
On Wednesday, the U.S. decided to move personnel out of the Middle East, and both benchmarks surged more than 4% to their highest since early April.
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The surge put the market in overbought territory based on several technical indicators, so it was likely due for a brief correction, StoneX Energy analyst Alex Hodes said.
Yesterday the U.S. President said he was growing less confident that Tehran would agree to stop enriching uranium, a key demand in U.S. talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump has previously threatened to strike Iran if the talks fail.
