Oil prices have hit three-month highs, driven higher by the OPEC+ cuts, the U.S.-China trade de-escalation, the slowdown in shale and the apparent stabilization in the global economy. There is a debate about how effective the additional OPEC+ cuts will turn out to be, whether the deal is significant or if it is merely a clever bit of repackaging existing realities. But the oil market bought it, helping to push prices up in the days following the announcement. The IEA still sees a stubborn glut sticking around in the short-term , but the extra 500,000 bpd in promised OPEC+ cuts helped change market sentiment. Just days later, the Trump administration threw in the towel on the trade war, agreeing to reduce some tariffs on China and cancel others. In exchange, China has promised to buy massive volumes of agricultural goods. Again, it’s difficult to parse out reality from hype […]