All eyes on oil prices

Oil prices briefly moved higher this morning as markets anticipate a deal out of the meeting in Vienna. The OPEC meeting gets underway today and concludes on Saturday. Some non-OPEC members including Russia will be present as well, which along with Saudi Arabia, is willing to increase production. There have been reports of an increase of 1 million barrels a day. Meanwhile, some oil producing countries such as Iraq, Iran and Venezuela, prefer to keep the supply limits in place. WTI crude has been fluctuating between $65 and $66.50 a barrel in early trading today.

The British pound moved higher as a result of a surprise MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) vote result that increases the odds of a rate hike in August. The Bank of England left its benchmark interest rate on hold at 0.50% at Thursday’s meeting, as was widely expected. But the minutes of the policy meeting indicated that three MPC members out of six voted in favor of a rate hike, which was more than the expected 2 votes for a hike. This is pound-positive. GBPUSD is currently trading in the high $1.32’s.