Crude-oil prices settled lower on Wednesday, down a second session in a row. The Energy Information Administration reported the first weekly U.S. crude inventory decline in 11 weeks, but that failed to support prices in the wake of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks this week on the outlook for interest rates in testimony to Congress. The oil market still had a “bit of a hangover from Powell’s remarks,” said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst, Americas, at Kpler. In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday, Powell warned that interest rates would need to rise higher than previously thought to get inflation under control. On Wednesday, he told the House Financial Services panel that the central bank hasn’t made any decision on the size of a potential interest rate hike this month. April West Texas Intermediate crude CLJ23, -1.47% fell 92 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $76.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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