Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 6/08/18

Oil prices were steady on Thursday, holding gains made the previous session after falling U.S. crude and oil product inventories lifted the market. Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, stood at $49.72 per barrel at 0939 GMT, 2 cents up from their last settlement. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $47.10 per barrel, 2 cents below their last close.

Last week, the International Longshoremen’s Association provided a legally-required 60-day strike notice ahead of the expiration of the East Coast dockworkers’ contract at the end of September. More than 40,000 port workers are pressing for strike action against the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on October 1 if their demands are not met. A strike by East Coast dockworkers would have a colossal impact not only on the profits of the major maritime shipping companies, but, most significantly, on the entire global capitalist economy. The contract covers 36 ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States, including the port of New York and New Jersey, the second biggest in the country. The Atlantic and Gulf ports handle over 100 million tons of cargo every year from Europe, South America and Asia.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude futures both slipped after the U.S. benchmark rose 2.7 percent on Tuesday, breaching $60 a barrel for the first time since June 2015. A pipeline run by Waha Oil Company that carries crude to Libya’s Es Sider terminal exploded Tuesday, reducing output by 70,000-100,000 barrels a day. The repair work will take about a week, according to people familiar with the situation. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is said to expect oil revenue to jump about 80 percent by 2023 to help the kingdom record its first budget surplus in a decade. “The market is having a counter-reaction to the jump yesterday,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S in Copenhagen. “It remains supported by the news out of Libya but at the same time liquidity is very poor.” Click Read More below for additional information.