Oil Pares Gains With Weaker Equities Overshadowing Supply Drop
- U.S. crude stockpiles fell by the most since July last week
- Rally lost momentum alongside declining U.S. equities
A valve wheel sits attached to crude oil pipework in an oilfield near Almetyevsk, Russia.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Oil erased most of its gains as futures traded in tandem with broader markets, with demand concerns prevailing over the biggest drop in U.S. crude supplies since last summer.
While futures in New York closed 0.5% higher on Wednesday, a weaker U.S. equity market ultimately pushed the benchmark down in after-market trading. A meaningful recovery in demand still appears to be a ways off. In the latest example of the pandemic’s boomerang effect in fuel markets, traffic in Los Angeles dropped sharply this past month after stricter stay-at-home measures were enforced in California, while consumption in China also weakened.