Oil Steadies on Thin Trading and Conflicting Demand Signals - Bloomberg

Oil Steadies on Thin Trading and Conflicting Demand Signals - Bloomberg

PRICES

West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rose 0.5% to $71.46 a barrel at 10:04 a.m. London time Brent for February settlement rose 0.3% to $74.23 Oil steadied as investors weighed mixed demand signals and trading volumes thinned moving into the holiday period. Futures in New York traded just below $72 a barrel after rallying on Tuesday with other financial assets. An energy crunch in Europe and an industry report that pointed to another decrease in U.S. crude stockpiles added to bullish sentiment for oil. However, the omicron variant of the coronavirus has continued to hang over the market, despite not having a big impact on consumption so far. Trading is starting to wane into the Christmas period. Average Brent crude futures volumes over the last 15 days are the least in two months, while WTI open interest has plunged to its lowest since 2016. “Data remains supportive, with supply outages, elevated flight activity and congestion on roads resulting in still falling inventories,” said Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS Group AG. “Concern on new mobility restrictions impacting oil demand as a result of the Omicron variant is keeping prices in check, however.”