Oil just experienced its biggest one-day price slump in more than six months, but it hasn’t veered off the road to recovery.
Even as problems with Europe’s vaccine program and a slowdown in Chinese crude buying sent futures down 7% on Thursday, data from around the world showed a steady, albeit patchy, recovery in demand.
A year ago, idled jetliners were parked wing-tip to wing-tip on airport taxiways as a raging virus kept billions of people at home. Today, U.S. airports are the busiest since the pandemic started and flight attendants are returning from furlough.
These steps back toward normality from one of the industries hit hardest by Covid-19 is just one of many signs that the world is starting to move again. Consumption of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel are at the highest in more than a year.
The market’s jitters may still be justified. A renewed lockdown in Italy showed that any gains can be quickly lost if the spread of the virus accelerates again. Yet things are likely to keep improving through the summer, traditionally the peak period for oil demand.
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