Oil futures were slightly lower on Monday after reports that U.S. production continued to rise last week. The stronger dollar also kept oil prices down, with Brent futures falling 15 cents per barrel to $53.38 per barrel and U.S. WTI crude futures down 8 cents per barrel to $50.52 per barrel.
Both Brent and WTI futures posted their worst quarterly losses since Q1 2015. Brent ended the quarter 7 percent lower and U.S. WTI fell 6 percent, largely due to U.S. production increases that have counteracted OPEC’s production cuts. U.S. rig counts increased by 10 to 662 last week, marking the first quarter of 2017 as the highest quarter for U.S. production since mid-2011. Iraq has also pledged to increase its production by the end of 2017 to 5 million barrels per day, though it is currently committed to helping with OPEC’s production cut.
The dollar index was up slightly during Monday’s Asian session, trading at 11.400 .DXY, as traders wait for the non-farm payroll reports due out this Friday to see whether the greenback will drop further or rebound on positive jobs data. According to a poll out by Reuters, economists expect the creation of 180,000 jobs in March.
The dollar traded at 111.34 yen on Monday, nearly flat, following the Bank of Japan’s “tankan” survey that was released on Monday which revealed an expectation for the pair to hit 10843 by the end of this year. The survey also showed that big manufacturers’ business sentiment improved for the second consecutive quarter, a sign that the economy is on the road to recovery.