Oil futures shook off early losses Tuesday to log their first gain in four session, lifting U.S. benchmark prices to their highest finish in almost seven weeks.
On Wednesday, the most-active West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery, which now also the front month, rose 64 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $41.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The November WTI contract, which expired at the day’s settlement, added 63 cents, or 1.5%, to end at $41.46 a barrel.
The global benchmark, December Brent crude settled at $43.16 a barrel, up 54 cents, or 1.3%, on ICE Futures Europe.
MarketWatch reported that prices popped just ahead of the expiration of the November West Texas Intermediate crude contract at the conclusion of Tuesday’s trading session, and also found support on expectations for a weekly decline in U.S. crude stockpiles, Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group, told MarketWatch.
On average, analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA to report a fall of 1.9 million barrels in domestic crude supplies. That would mark a second-straight weekly inventory decline. The analysts also forecast supply declines of 1.6 million barrels for gasoline and 3 million barrels for distillates.
Oil futures had spent part of the session moving lower, amid continued concerns that a surge in COVID-19 cases in Europe and the U.S. will limit energy demand .
Several European countries have imposed new restrictions on business activity and travel as COVID-19 cases have risen in recent days. In the U.S., the seven-day moving average of new cases, which smooths out daily irregularities, rose to 56,007, its highest since Aug. 5, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Source: MarketWatch