Oil pares some gains on fears of economic weakness due to virus - Reuters

Oil pares some gains on fears of economic weakness due to virus - Reuters:

Oil prices rose on Friday but pulled back sharply from early highs on concerns that continued spread of the novel coronavirus could stall the United States’ economic rebound.

Crude benchmarks followed other assets lower after Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren said more fiscal and monetary support for the U.S. economy will likely be needed.

Rosengren repeated his view that the U.S. unemployment rate will likely be “at double-digit levels” at the end of 2020 and cautioned against reopening the economy too quickly after the end of lockdowns aimed at containing the virus.

Heightening fears, Apple announced that it would re-close certain stores as the virus spread further.

Brent crude LCOc1 rose 10 cents to $41.61 a barrel by 12:41 p.m. EDT (1641 GMT), after trading up to $42.92 a barrel and then briefly turning negative. U.S. crude CLc1 was 29 cents higher at $39.15, after earlier touching $40.49.