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Oil futures ended sharply lower Friday, under pressure as COVID-19 cases continued to rise, underlining worries over demand as some countries introduce new restrictions on business and consumer activity.
West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery CL.1, -3.50% fell $1.65, or 4.3%, to close at $37.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while January Brent crude BRN00, +0.76%, the global benchmark, fell $1.48, or 3.6%, to $39.45 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Investors fear the continued rise in COVID-19 infections threatens to squelch the economic rebound. The U.S. on Thursday saw new cases top 100,000 for a second day in a row, marking consecutive records, while several European countries have imposed tougher business lockdowns.
The pandemic is “casting its shadow on the oil market because record numbers of new cases and deaths are being reported on a daily basis in many countries,” said Eugen Weinberg, analyst at Commerzbank, in a note. “The restrictions that are already in place, coupled with possible long-term changes to travel behavior, are likely to prompt the oil agencies to downwardly revise their demand forecasts next week.”
Crude oil futures still logged solid weekly gains, however, with WTI up 3.8% and Brent rising 4%.
Crude was boosted earlier in the week as stocks extended gains following U.S. Election Day on Tuesday. Democratic challenger Joe Biden continued to close in on a victory over President Donald Trump Friday. That’s a potential weight on crude, Weinberg said, because it makes a rapprochement with Iran more likely, which would add more crude to the market.
Crude remained lower after oil-field-services company Baker Hughes said the number of U.S. oil rigs rose by 5 this week to 226.
In other energy trading, December gasoline RBZ20, -2.36% fell 3.15 cents, or 2.8%, to close at $1.0844 a gallon, leaving it up 5.1% for the week. December heating oil HOZ20, -1.82% lost 2.7 cents, or 2.3%, to finish at $1.1426 a gallon, for a 5.2% weekly gain.
January natural gas NGF21, -1.39% fell 1.8% to end at $3.031 per million British thermal units.
