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Oil futures gave up early gains to turn lower Tuesday as traders kept tabs on developments ahead of U.S.-China trade talks due later this week, which could shape expectations around demand for crude.
West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery CLX19, -1.27% fell 70 cents, or 1.3%, to $52.05 a barrel, while December Brent crude BRNZ19, -1.22% shed 68 cents, or 1.2%, to $57.67 a barrel.
“Oil prices continue to swing around U.S.-China trade talk sentiment as prices are taking a turn for the worse after the latest…not-so-encouraging trade-war headlines,” said Stephen Innes, strategist at AxiTrader, in a note.
The U.S. late Monday blacklisted 28 Chinese companies due to their alleged role in human-rights violations against Muslim minorities. The move, ahead of high-level discussions between U.S. and Chinese officials on Thursday and Friday, dampened enthusiasm over prospects for a breakthrough in the long-running trade dispute, weighing on stock-index futures.
Early Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration was moving ahead with discussions around possible restrictions on capital flows into China, particularly investments made by U.S. government pension funds.
In other energy trading, November gasoline RBX19, -1.36% fell 1.5% to $1.5459 a gallon, while November heating HOX19, -0.94% dropped 1.2% to $1.8805 a gallon.
November natural-gas futures NGX19, -0.78% rose 0.3% to $2.309 per million British thermal units.
