Oil Steadies With Weak Dollar Eclipsing Sluggish Demand Backdrop - Bloomberg

Oil Steadies With Weak Dollar Eclipsing Sluggish Demand Backdrop - Bloomberg:

Crude nearly erased all losses with a declining dollar and strong U.S. equities lending support to a market weakened by sluggish demand.

Futures in New York settled close to flat after dropping as much as 1.9% earlier on Wednesday. The dollar weakened to the lowest level since March and U.S. stocks largely firmed amid signs that Trump administration officials and Senate Republicans are discussing a short-term extension of unemployment insurance.

“If we get close to a short-term stimulus extension for unemployment, that’s probably going to give demand expectations a boost,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group Inc.

Still, U.S. government data showed crude stockpiles increased by nearly 5 million barrels last week, supplies of distillate surged to the highest in decades and gasoline demand ticked lower, signaling that the virus is keeping drivers off the road during the typically high-consumption summer months.

PRICES
West Texas Intermediate for September delivery fell 2 cents to settle at $41.90 a barrel. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell as much as 0.4%. Brent for September settlement edged lower by 3 cents to end the session at $44.29 a barrel.