Oil Futures Retreat From Recent Gains

Oil futures settled with a loss of more than 3% on Monday, giving up nearly half of last week’s gain.

April West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.32, or 3.4%, to settle at $37.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after finishing last week roughly 7.2% higher. Monday’s settlement was the lowest since March 8.

May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange lost 86 cents, or 2.1%, to $39.53 a barrel.

The latest move for oil comes on the heels of a brisk rally that lifted prices to their highest levels of the year. The gains have been fueled by supply reductions around the world and the prospect of a coordinated supply freeze by major oil-exporting countries.

April natural gas settled at $1.819 per million British thermal units, down less than half a cent.