A barrel of European reference oil Brent trades for USD 80.33 Wednesday morning CET against USD 80.06 Tuesday afternoon. US benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate sells concurrently for USD 75.11 relative to USD 74.82.

The US Federal Reserve will meet later today, expectedly to hike interest rates by 50 basis points – a move affecting oil markets, with some crude traders also seen taking profits ahead of the central bank meeting, Reuters cites Tina Teng, CMC Markets analyst, noting.

”But I still expect that oil prices may continue their recent rebounding pace,” Teng adds.

In each of its latest four meetings, the Fed has raised interest rates by 75 basis points, and as of Tuesday, US consumer price index data show domestic inflation as down to 7.1% from 7.7% rather the forecast 7.3%.

A more dovish Fed looking forward would buoy oil prices, says Baden Moore, head of commodities research at National Australia Bank, to the news agency. 

American Petroleum Institute data show crude inventories rising with 7.8 million barrels last week, whereas a Reuters roll projected a decrease of 3.6 million barrels. Official US Energy Information Agency figures are set for release at 4:30 p.m. CET.

Chinese domestic air traffic, supported by Beijing easing public health restrictions, increased Monday to 65% of pre-pandemic levels, show figures from ANZ Research.

Elsewhere in commodities, one troy ounce of gold trades for USD 1,811.84 Wednesday morning CET against USD 1,819.22 Tuesday afternoon.

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