After multinational navies escorted the "Red Sea", oil prices stabilized, and gold waited for US PCE data to ignite the market

Investors will continue to watch for signs that the Red Sea crisis is expanding to include energy transportation. Goldman Sachs analysts said the disruption was unlikely to have a significant impact on crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices. Markets await the release of a series of US economic data to further explore the path of the Federal Reserve's interest rates.

Oil prices stabilised with the announcement on Tuesday of the formation of a multinational force to cruise the Red Sea. In addition, gold prices weakened as a small rise in the dollar offset the support of falling U.S. Treasury yields. This week, > investors will continue to watch for signs that the Red Sea crisis is expanding to include energy transportation, with a series of U.S. economic data releases to further explore the path of the Federal Reserve's interest rates. 

On Monday (December 18), crude oil prices rose by nearly 2% due to concerns about trade disruptions in the Suez Canal12% of shipping passes through the Suez Canal.

Meanwhile, oil giant BP has temporarily halted shipments through the Red Sea; tanker group Frontline said its ships would avoid the route。

Goldman Sachs analysts said the disruption was unlikely to have a significant impact on crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices, as the opportunity for ships to reroute suggested production should not be directly affected. 

According to a Reuters poll, U.S. crude inventories are expected to fall by 2.20 million barrels.

Spot gold was stable at $2,025.70 an ounce; U.S. gold futures were also flat at $2,040.40.

Peter Fertig, analyst at Quantitative Commodity Research, said: "After the FOMC meeting, the market got a little too excited, betting on a big rate cut next year, but some members are not ready and still believe that the inflation risk has not been fully overcome."

Federal Reserve Chairperson Jerome PowellMr. Powell said last week that the Fed's monetary tightening might be over and that talk of cutting borrowing costs was "coming into view".

Although some Federal Reserve officials have resisted market expectations of a rate cut, the remarks have not changed investor sentiment. According to the CME FedWatch tool, the market still expects a roughly 70% chance of a rate cut in March.Mr. Fertig added: "On the other hand, what supports gold is that government bond yields are falling, which reduces the opportunity cost of holding gold." 

Investors are awaiting a slew of U.S. economic data this week, including 11.Monthly Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) Index, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of underlying inflation.

Elsewhere, the Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-loose monetary policy as expected, highlighting policymakers' tendency to wait for more clues as to whether wages will rise enough to keep inflation at a sustainable rate2% near the target.