Oil Futures Rise With Equities in Volatile Year-End Trading - Bloomberg

Oil Futures Rise With Equities in Volatile Year-End Trading - Bloomberg

PRICES

West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rose $2.51 to settle at $71.12 a barrel in New York Brent for February settlement climbed $2.46 to settle at $73.98 a barrel Oil climbed with equities as traders resumed buying risk assets following a two-day rout. Futures in New York closed up 3.7%, trading around $71 a barrel. Crude rallied as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he doesn’t plan to impose new restrictions on activities before Christmas. Volatility has surged as the market tries to assess the severity of the new strain’s impact, with price moves amplified by low end-of-year trading volumes. “Folks are booking their profits or end-of-year losses and just waiting for the restart after the new year,” said John Kilduff, founding partner at Again Capital LLC. Crude’s daily gains come against the backdrop of surging gas and power prices in Europe, with France even burning fuel oil in a bid to keep the lights on. Earlier this year, the oil market got a boost from expectations that there would be a major switch in power consumption toward crude and petroleum products.