LONDON—Oil prices steadied after earlier losses on Wednesday, driven by fears that more aggressive U.S. interest rate hikes would hit demand, while the market awaited further clarity on inventories.
Brent crude futures climbed 11 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $83.40 per barrel by 1103 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures eased 9 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $77.49 a barrel.
Both Brent and WTI fell by more than 3 percent on Tuesday after comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that the central bank would likely need to raise interest rates more than expected in response to recent strong data.
“Fed Chair Powell’s comments on ‘higher for longer’ rates spooked markets and sent risk assets, including commodities, sharply down overnight,” said Tina Teng, an analyst at CMC Markets….