Oil Pares Weekly Gain on Virus Surge, Election Uncertainty
- American fiscal, energy policy unclear amid contested results
- WTI futures fall 4.3% Friday, but still notch 3.8% weekly gain
The Nordmarlin, a crude oil tanker operated by Nord Group, anchors off the coast of Southwold, U.K., on Friday, May 15, 2020.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Oil pared its weekly gain as a resurgent pandemic raised the risk of further demand destruction, while the market awaits the outcome of a tightly contested U.S. election.
Futures in New York dropped 4.3% on Friday, the largest one-day decline in more than a week. Increasing expectations over OPEC+ delaying its planned output increase in January and a post-election rally in equities helped crude prices with a strong start to the week. But a string of renewed lockdowns in Europe and record case counts in the U.S. kept any upward price momentum in check.