Crude oil prices edged higher in early trades Tuesday, amid hopes of increased demand on the back of a stronger than expected U.S. factory output in February.
However, gains are just modest, as traders are mostly making cautious moves, looking ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on its bond-buying program.
The Fed is expected to trim its stimulus plan by $10 billion to $55 billion per month on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, it is widely expected that the soft sanctions on Russia following the Crimea region of Ukraine voting to join Russia will not result in supply interruption from the region.
U.S. Crude for April delivery is up $0.24 or 0.24% at $98.32 a barrel.
Markets will be paying attention this afternoon when the American Petroleum Institute releases its U.S. crude oil inventories figures for last week. Analysts expect a significant build in stockpiles for a second straight week.
Natural Gas is down 0.30 percent at $4.523 per million btu.
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Market Analysis
May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.