Oil Posts April Gain With Focus on Upcoming Demand Revival - Bloomberg

Oil Posts April Gain With Focus on Upcoming Demand Revival - Bloomberg

PRICES

West Texas Intermediate fell $1.43 to settle at $63.58 a barrel, but rose 2.3% this week Brent for June settlement, which expires Friday, lost $1.31 to $67.25 a barrel. The contract is up 1.7% this week, and climbed 5.8% for the month The more-active July contract declined $1.29 to $66.76 Oil rose this month with a slew of positive economic data and signs of a budding fuel consumption revival in key economies offsetting a worsening coronavirus crisis elsewhere. Futures in New York rose this week, extending its monthly gain to 7.5%. The near-certain likelihood of higher fuel consumption in the U.S., China and the U.K has brightened the overall demand outlook, even as a resurgent pandemic in countries such as India, Brazil and Japan cloud those prospects. OPEC and its allies see world consumption rebounding by 6 million barrels a day this year, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. this week said demand could post a record jump as vaccination rates increase. “The U.S. is going to lead the demand recovery” and “now that Covid cases are declining across most of western Europe, there’s excitement around a strong pickup in global economic activity and improved air travel in the coming months,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. But “to take out the March highs, the situation in India needs to be heading in the right direction.”