Oil settles below 5-month highs amid fuel demand worries - Reuters

Oil settles below 5-month highs amid fuel demand worries - Reuters:

Oil prices hovered below five-month highs on Thursday, falling after a session in which bearish sentiment about fuel demand counteracted optimism about Iraq’s supply cuts, pushing the benchmarks in and out of positive territory. 

Concerns remain that demand is depressed by the economic slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

“Everyone is waiting for the coronavirus relief package to come through to give a bounce to the economy,” he said.

Brent crude LCOc1 settled down 8 cents at $45.09 a barrel, while U.S. crude CLc1 fell 24 cents to $41.95 after a four-day streak of gains.

Earlier in the session, planned output cuts from Iraq boosted the contracts.