The October Brent Futures contract has seen renewed strength this afternoon, rallying from $77.68/bbl at 12:00 BST to $78.23/bbl at 13:30 BST, before retracing slightly lower and rallying again to trade at $78.58/bbl at the time of writing (17:05 BST). EIA statistics highlighted Crude inventories fell 3.73% on the week, down to 429.3 mb, while gasoline and distillates stocks rose by 1.34% and 0.95%, to 225.1 mb and 127.8 mb, respectively. In China, data from Umetrip shows over 18 million domestic flight bookings from 1 July 1 to 31 August, a 23% increase from 2023. Planned inbound and outbound flights total about 145,000, with nearly 7 million tickets booked, nearly double last year’s number. Israel vows to kill new Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, while the U.S. and allies urge restraint to avoid further escalation in the Middle East. Finally, the front (Oct/Nov) and 6-month (Oct/Apr) Brent futures spreads are at $0.66/bbl and $2.57/bbl respectively.
