Oil Drops as Mounting Economic Slowdown Fears Overshadow Putin
- Crude futures fell after the Fed raised interest rates
- Prices rose at session’s start on Putin’s call for more troops
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Oil dropped after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, signaling the market fears the cascading effects of economic slowdown more than potential supply disruptions from Russia’s escalating war.
West Texas Intermediate slipped to settle below $83 a barrel Wednesday. Crude whipsawed, rising early in the session to as high as $86 after Vladimir Putin called for substantially more troops to widen the war in Ukraine. Those gains were erased as the Federal Reserve meeting came into focus. The US central bank raised interest rates by 75 basis points for the third consecutive time, a move that could trigger an economic recession.