Oil prices fell on Thursday (September 18), as investors focused more on concerns about the US economy than on easing monetary policy after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time this year.
At the end of the trading session on September 18, Brent crude oil futures fell 63 cents (0.9%) to $67.32/barrel. WTI crude oil futures lost 66 cents (1.0%) to $63.39/barrel.
The Fed cut interest rates by 0.25% on September 17 and signaled further cuts for the rest of the year, in response to signs of weakness in the job market.
Lower borrowing costs typically boost oil demand and push oil prices higher.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time fell last week, reversing a rise the week before, but the labor market has stalled as both demand and supply of workers have weakened. U.S. single-family homebuilding fell to its lowest level in nearly 2.5 years in August 2025 amid a glut of unsold new homes, suggesting the housing market could remain an economic drag this quarter.
Persistent oversupply and weak fuel demand in the United States, the world’s largest oil consumer, also weighed on the market. On September 17, data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that US crude oil inventories fell sharply last week as net imports fell to a record low, while exports jumped to their highest level in nearly two years.
However, US distillate inventories jumped 4 million barrels, much higher than forecasts for a 1 million barrel increase, raising concerns about demand in the world’s top oil consumer and putting pressure on oil prices.
Concerns about falling demand have offset concerns about rising supply. In Russia, the world’s second-largest crude producer after the United States, the Finance Ministry announced new measures to protect the state budget from oil price volatility and Western sanctions targeting Russian energy exports. Separately, Ukraine is intensifying its campaign to disrupt Moscow’s oil and gas industry with a series of attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
Anything that keeps Russian crude out of the international oil market will boost oil prices.
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