2019.10.0906:57:00UTC+00Oil Rebounds On Brexit Deal Hopes

Oil prices rebounded on Wednesday after two days of declines as the British government signaled that it intends to bring a revised Brexit deal back to Parliament, raising hopes that a deal could yet be reached before 31 October.

According to a report in The Times, the EU is ready to make a major concession on a Brexit deal by providing a mechanism for the Northern Irish assembly to leave a new Irish backstop after a set number of years.

Benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.05 percent to $58.86 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 1 percent at $53.16 a barrel.

Investor focus remained on upcoming U.S.-China trade talks that are set to begin on Thursday in Washington.

Prospects for progress in U.S.-China trade talks dimmed after the Trump administration imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials and also expanded its trade blacklist to include some of China's top artificial intelligence startups.

The Trump administration is also moving ahead with discussions around possible restrictions on capital flows into China, with a focus on investments made by U.S. government pension funds, Bloomberg reported.

It's a quiet day on the economic calendar, though investors will keep an eye on minutes from the Fed's policy gathering committee last month for additional clues on the outlook for interest rates.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday flagged openness to further rate cuts and indicated the central bank intends to resume increasing the size of its balance sheet in order to ensure money markets function smoothly.