Oil falls 2% on spread of China virus - Reuters

Oil falls 2% on spread of China virus - Reuters:

Oil prices fell on Thursday on concerns over the potential economic impact of the coronavirus that continues to spread worldwide, while the market also considered the possibility of an early OPEC meeting. 

Brent crude LCOc1 was down $1.29, or 2.16%, at $58.52 a barrel by 1321 GMT, having risen 0.5% on Wednesday. U.S. crude CLc1 was down $1.07, or 2.01%, at $52.26 after dropping 0.3% in the previous session.

Countries have started isolating hundreds of citizens evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan on Thursday to stop the spread of an epidemic that has killed 170 people as worry about the impact on the world’s second-biggest economy rattled markets.

Prices have steadied in recent days at three-month lows as investors tried to assess what economic damage the virus might inflict and to demand for crude oil and its products.