Still no breakthrough in the nuclear negotiations with Iran

Oil prices initially continued their nose-dive of recent days yesterday. Brent fell to a good $55 per barrel, while WTI dropped to a three-month low of $50.6 per barrel. In the evening, however, the oil prices then recouped their losses, Brent even closing trading slightly up.

This is because the nuclear negotiations with Iran did not result in the hoped-for breakthrough yesterday instead, talks are to continue until Friday. Bones of contention are the timeframe for the easing of sanctions and monitoring of Iran's compliance with the agreed points. 

The renewed extension of the talks means that the deadline by which US President Obama was supposed to submit the agreement to Congress will elapse. As a result, Congress will have 60 rather than 30 days in which to review the agreement. In other words, an easing of sanctions would be delayed by up to one month, says Commerzbank.