PHOTO
Goldman Sachs has nudged down its Brent crude futures forecasts following banking and recession fears.
The New York-listed investment bank is now expecting Brent to average $95 in the next 12 months and $94 in the second half of 2024, it said in a note dated March 18.
Oil prices fell despite demand boom in China, given banking stress, recession fears and an exodus of investor flows, the bank’s analysts said.
The bank has also lowered demand projections for Europe and North America in 2023, while raising them for China, as well as making a 600,000 barrel per day cut for 2024 estimates, while 2023 demand forecasts remained the same.
The past 11 days have seen banking upheaval, beginning with the collapse of fintech and start-up focused lender Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), an acquisition of another US lender, Signature Bank, following its collapse, and the rout and subsequent swallowing of Credit Suisse by rival UBS.
Another West Coast US bank, First Republic, saw its shares tumble 47.1% Monday on liquidity fears.
(Writing by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Cleofe Maceda)
