ANZ raises its December 31st Brent crude oil forecast to USD 105/bbl from USD  95/bbl

ANZ raises its December 31st Brent crude oil forecast to USD 105/bbl from USD  95/bbl.

A double-digit upward revision to a year-end Brent target from a major house is the kind of sell-side note that tends to follow, rather than lead, a move in the physical strip; banks typically mark forecasts to where prompt prices and the forward curve have already gone, so the revision itself is confirmation of an underlying repricing more than fresh information. The useful content is in the stated or implied driver: upward revisions built on supply disruption and drawdowns carry different durability from those built purely on demand optimism, and episodes driven by the former have historically held the back end of the curve up, while demand-led ones fade faster. The distinction between a raised target and a raised conviction matters: a higher point forecast with unchanged long-term assumptions signals spot-led marking, whereas a shift in the full profile implies a view on structural balance. What is worth watching is whether peer houses follow within the usual lag, since clustered revisions tend to coincide with the more persistent trend phases, and whether the curve structure, prompt timespreads and the back end, corroborates the call. As a forecast change rather than positioning data, the direct transmission is to sentiment and consensus anchoring rather than to flows.