Oil is growing weakly on expectations of financial results of oil and gas companies

On Friday morning, oil quotes started to moderate growth after a sharp decline two days earlier from the area of $82.80 to $77.64 per barrel. The current Brent oil quote is $78.36, North American WTI oil is trading near $74.84. 

Analysts note that the growth of quotations resumed after two days of intensive decline amid conflicting economic signals. Today it is worth paying attention to the statistics on the income of oil companies – OMV (Austria), Eni (Italy), Chevron and ExxonMobil (USA). The further dynamics of the oil market will depend on these data.

Investors also continue to evaluate the US macroeconomic statistics released on Thursday. In particular, US GDP in the first quarter grew by 1.1% year-on-year, while analysts expected GDP growth of 2%. This slowdown in the economy may increase the chances that the US Federal Reserve will refrain from raising the discount rate at the May 2-3 meeting.

The oil market may also react to a number of data, the main of which are the growth of eurozone GDP and the final assessment of the current consumer sentiment index of the University of Michigan, reflecting the degree of household confidence in the US economy.