SINGAPORE - Oil prices nudged lower for a second straight session on Monday, weighed down by a firmer dollar as expectations of interest rate cuts were pushed out further following strong U.S. jobs data on Friday.
"Regarding Macron and elections, it does create another layer of uncertainty, coming after the upside surprise in U.S. non-farm payrolls, which saw yields scream higher," Tony Sycamore, a Sydney-based analyst at IG said. Brent and WTI posted their third straight weekly loss last week on concerns that a plan to unwind production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, a group known as OPEC+, from October will add to rising global supply.
In the U.S., Washington stepped up purchasing of crude oil to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after prices fell. -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government will call for a vote this week on a planned hike in the capital-gains tax inclusion rate, a measure that would raise billions in additional government revenue and has attracted the ire of Canada’s business community.