Oil prices under pressure as US dollar rises

While oil prices (CL=F, BZ=F) face some downward pressure, they have remained above the crucial $80 level. Yahoo Finance's Ines Ferré breaks down the details, providing insights into factors such as the strengthening US dollar (DX=F) and geopolitical tensions that could be causing the sell-off.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith

Video transcript

RACHELLE AKUFFO: We're watching oil prices remaining steady today as WTI holds above that $80-per-barrel level. Futures have been-- have been around this range this week. Ines Ferré is here with more on the movements that we've been seeing. Hey, Ines.

INES FERRÉ: Hey, Rachelle, yeah. And we are seeing today oil futures with WTI as you just mentioned right now just under $81 a barrel. A little bit of pressure on oil prices right now, down about 3/10 of a percent. Not much though. I mean, still holding up above that psychological $80-a-barrel level. Now, you do have the US dollar index, which is higher today. And since oil is invoiced in dollars, if the dollar goes up, that means that prices generally go down a bit because you need less dollars to purchase that oil.

You have Brent Crude that's trading just above $85 a barrel, also 2/10 of a off. There has been also some optimism over some-- over talks of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. So perhaps that is putting a little bit of pressure on oil prices. But nonetheless, make no mistake here. We have seen a run up in prices over the last couple of weeks. I am going to pull up a 12-day chart here. You can see a more than 4%.

You are seeing falling inventories. We have also been seeing those continuing, OPEC+ output cuts. And then Russia's crude refinery-- refining has dropped to a 10-month low because of those Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries. When the customers for those Russian refineries can't get their products from there, they have to go elsewhere in the world to get their products.

So look, this is all having an impact on oil prices. We are seeing year-to-date WTI is up 14%. Brent Crude up 12% year-to-date. Analysts are saying that the run up that we have seen recently is a little too fast. So you may be seei-- you may see a bit of a pullback. But nonetheless, we are seeing oil prices higher for the year. And this is also, by the way, impacting gasoline prices as well.

AKIKO FUJITA: As always, Ines Ferré keeping a close watch on the energy space for us today.