By far the most important event in the financial markets this week was the unexpected release of oil stocks by the IEA, which almost immediately reduced the global oil price by about 8 per cent. The motivation for this intervention might well have been Washington politics but, if the fall in the oil price persists, it will have a very useful effect on global economic activity, just when it is most needed.
Former US vice president Dick Cheney used to describe the release of oil stocks by the IEA as a “nuclear option”, which could almost never be used. The FT’s commodities editor Javier Blas says that it is now viewed as a “smart bomb” aimed mainly at oil speculators. But others, including this FT editorial, see the IEA’s tactics as pointless or self-destructive. So is it just a damp squib?
