Hong Kong/Atlanta/London
CNN
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Oil prices spiked Monday after OPEC+ producers unexpectedly announced that they would cut output.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, jumped 5.31% to $84.13 a barrel, while WTI, the US benchmark, rose 5.48% to $79.83. Both were the sharpest price rises in almost a year.
The oil prices sunk as low as $73 and $67 a barrel respectively in the week following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States on March 10, as the turmoil spread to the wider banking sector, raising fears of a global recession.
With oil prices now rising, inflation could remain higher for longer, adding pressure to a hot-button issue for consumers around the world.
“The development comes as a blow for inflation,” Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said in a note Monday. “Markets are aware that if the pressure…