FX.co ★ Oil Prices Mixed As Investors Await Fed Minutes

Oil prices traded mixed on Tuesday as investors shifted focus to the economic and rate outlook.

Benchmark Brent crude futures fell around 1 percent to $83.25 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were up 0.3 percent at $76.80.

The U.S. contract did not settle on Monday because of Presidents' Day holiday.

The focus remains firmly on the Fed's latest policy meeting minutes due to be released on Wednesday, after recent data and comments from several Federal Reserve officials raised the risk of interest rates remaining higher for longer.

Strength in the dollar, which hovered near a six-week high against a basket of currencies, also weighed on prices.

Rising tensions around the Russian-Ukraine war supported the dollar and dented demand for riskier assets.

China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, is due to arrive in Moscow today on the one-year anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine to see President Zelenskiy.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China against providing "lethal support" for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and condemned the latest North Korean missile launch.

In his long-anticipated state-of-the-nation address, Russian President Vladimir Putin today blamed the West for starting the conflict in Ukraine, saying Western countries, led by the United States, were seeking "unlimited power" in world affairs.