U.S. oil settles below $100 a barrel on economic worries, strong dollar | Reuters

U.S. oil settles below $100 a barrel on economic worries, strong dollar | Reuters

U.S. crude oil price settled below $100 a barrel on Tuesday to its lowest level in two weeks as the demand outlook was pressured by coronavirus lockdowns in China and growing recession risks, while a strong dollar made crude more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled down $3.33, or 3.2%, to $99.76 a barrel, while Brent crude was down $3.48, or 3.28%, at $102.46 a barrel. Both benchmarks were down for a second straight day and fell by more than $4 a barrel earlier on Tuesday.

Wall Street's main indexes also turned lower in volatile trading on concerns over aggressive monetary policy tightening and slowing economic growth.

Early in the session, comments from the Saudi and UAE energy ministers boosted Brent and WTI up by more than $1 a barrel.

"These are volatile times, the daily price bars are outsized these days," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC.

"As the EU continues to dither over whether or not they are going to embargo that Russian oil, that changes the calculus very much as well in both directions," he added.