• West Texas Intermediate futures traded below $77 a barrel after sliding almost 5% over the previous two sessions. Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that the central bank is likely to boost rates higher than anticipated, but said a decision hadn’t been made about the March meeting. He made the remarks during a second day of congressional testimony in Washington.
• The negative sentiment around further monetary tightening overshadowed an unexpected drop in US crude inventories. Stockpiles fell around 1.7 million barrels last week, the first decline this year, according to the Energy Information Administration. Analysts had forecast another gain.
• Oil has endured a bumpy year as concerns over more rate hikes from the Fed competed with an optimistic outlook for China after the dismantling of COVID Zero late last year.