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Oil Slips With Weak Economic Data Reinforcing Sour Demand View

Oil held losses in Asia after a U.S. jobs report cast doubt on the strength of the demand recovery in the world’s largest economy.

Oil Slips With Weak Economic Data Reinforcing Sour Demand View
A flare stack at a petrochemical oil refinery in Japan. (Photographer: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg)

Crude clung to losses amid a combination of weak economic data and signals that a recovery in consumption may be slowing.

Futures posted a 0.4% decline in New York on Friday. Although strength in U.S. equities pushed oil up from the lows of the session, futures were unable to rally amid a flurry of disappointing data points. In the U.S., consumer sentiment posted a surprise drop and Covid-19 cases in the country passed the 3.6 million mark.

Meanwhile in India, road fuel sales fell in the first half of July as virus lockdowns occurred in several cities, and the Chinese city of Urumqi locked down some areas amid fears of another outbreak in the country. Brent futures posted their first weekly decline in a month, falling 10 cents over the week.

“Consumer confidence, with its big miss today, weighed on the earlier optimism that we saw,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group Inc. “There’s a concern that, after the stimulus checks run out, there’s going to be a pullback in retail sales and definitely a pullback in travel by car if people are not going to be working.”

Oil Slips With Weak Economic Data Reinforcing Sour Demand View

U.S. benchmark crude futures are having trouble breaking out of the tight trading range they’ve been in since early June. Major gasoline-guzzling states like Texas and California are facing a resurgence in Covid-19 cases, squashing demand, while the OPEC+ alliance is preparing to unleash crude oil back into the market next month.

The 200-day moving average for WTI futures around $43 a barrel “is keeping a lid on prices from surging higher,” said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC. “If we can get through that, then you might see some fireworks, some more aggressive buying coming in. But for now it’s sort of a wait-and-see.”

Prices:
  • West Texas Intermediate for August delivery declined 16 cents to settle at $40.59 a barrel in New York. Futures posted a 0.1% gain for the week.
  • Brent for September settlement fell 23 cents to end the session at $43.14 a barrel.

With prices treading water, there’s been little to get excited about for traders. Volumes on the global Brent benchmark in July are heading for their lowest month since 2014, while those for WTI are set for their quietest month since 2015.

”There’s some trepidation on people’s part between the resurgence of the virus around the world limiting people heading back to work and the anticipation of OPEC increasing production,” said Sal Gilbertie, president and CIO of Teucrium Trading LLC.

Other oil-news:
  • Russia’s oil exports are expected to stay near July’s historically low levels next month, a signal the country is serious about keeping extra crude it plans to pump domestically and draining key refining markets like northwest Europe.
  • Some oil from China’s swelling storage tanks is finding its way back into the international market as traders jump at the opportunity to source cheap crude for resale to regional refiners.
  • Oil explorers extended a record streak of U.S. rig retirements that commenced four months ago with a Saudi-Russian price war and the virus-driven demand collapse.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.