Crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Tuesday after data showing a slowdown in U.S. inflation raised expectations the Fed will pause rate increases. Data from the Labor Department showed the consumer price index inched up by 0.1% in May after climbing by 0.4% in April. Street had expected prices to tick up by 0.2%. Further, oil prices also rose as the People's Bank of China announced a surprise rate cut. The PBoC cut the seven-day reverse repo rate to 1.9% from 2%. This was the first lowering since a similar size reduction in August last year.
Benchmark crude oil futures for July delivery rose $2.30 or about 3.4 percent to settle at $69.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for August delivery surged $2.45 or 3.4 percent to settle at $74.29 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.