WTI tumbles to near $77.00 amid uncertainty ahead of China/US CPI, Fed’s outcome

■WTI corrects to $77.00 as investors turn cautious ahead of eventful Wednesday.

■China’s PPI is expected to continue its deflating streak.

■The Fed is widely anticipated to maintain interest rates steady in the 5.25%-5.50% range.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), futures on NYMEX, declines to near $77.00 in Tuesday’s New York session. The oil price's appeal has remained significantly strong in the past few trading sessions, as investors were upbeat on demand due to the summer vacation season in the Northern Hemisphere.

The black gold recovered sharply after declining to a four-month low near $72.50. That sell-off was driven by the OPEC  meeting in which members communicated about shrinking production cuts to some extent.

However, uncertainty among investors ahead of the May Consumer Price Index (CPI) data release in the world’s largest and second-largest nations has kept a lid on the Oil price. Investors will keenly focus on China’s annual CPI data, which is estimated to have grown steadily by 0.3%.

Market participants will also pay close attention to annual Producer Price Index (PPI) numbers, which indicate changes in prices set by business owners at their premises. The PPI data is expected to have deflated at a slower pace of 1.8% from the prior reading of 2.5%. It is worth noting that China is the second largest importer of Oil in the world, and strong demand from the region improves the global Oil demand outlook.

Meanwhile, the US inflation data will also be on the radar as investors want to know whether price pressures are progressively declining towards the desired rate of 2%. Signs of inflation remaining stubborn would shrink market speculation for Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cuts. Currently, investors expect that the Fed will cut interest rates only once this year.

The major event for the market will be the Fed’s interest rate decision on Wednesday. The Fed is expected to remain status-quo with a hawkish interest rates outlook.