Oil Slips With New Coronavirus Strain Threatening Fuel Demand
- New variant possibly already in Germany, France, Switzerland
- West Texas Intermediate crude futures drop 2% on Tuesday
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Oil declined to the lowest in a week amid expectations that a new spreading coronavirus variant and related travel curbs will weaken global fuel consumption already under pressure.
Futures slid 2% in New York on Tuesday. The new Covid-19 strain that emerged in the U.K. is possibly already in Germany, France and Switzerland, officials in those countries said. More than 40 countries are restricting flights and effectively isolating the U.K. In the U.S., the virus has hospitalized almost twice as many Americans as at any point in the pandemic and vaccine doses for most people are still months away.