Crude oil futures closed lower on Friday (April 22), weighed down by negative factors such as a weaker global growth outlook, rising interest rates, and lockdowns in China to combat COVID-19 – all factors that will hurt oil demand.
- WTI crude futures fell $1.72, or 1.7%, at $102.07 a barrel.
- BRENT crude futures fell $1.68, or 1.6%, at $106.65 a barrel.
This week, both crude oil futures fell by more than 4%.
Carsten Fritsch, commodity analyst at Commerzbank, commented,
“Oil prices are facing a weekly loss of around four percent, which would be equivalent to the third weekly loss in the last four weeks. Contributing to this have been demand concerns related to China’s rigid covid policy, which threatens to paralyze the key economic hub of Shanghai for several weeks.”
Earlier, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had lowered its forecast for global economic growth this year to 3.6%, raising concerns about the outlook for global fuel demand.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted at a seminar sponsored by the IMF that the Fed could raise interest rates by 0.50% at its May meeting. This would be the first time since 2000 that the Fed raises interest rates by 0.50%.
Oil demand in China, the world’s largest oil importer, is also a concern for investors after Shanghai announced lockdown measures to contain the spread of COVID-19
The Spot Market is Closed
Saturday, April 23, 2022
| Energy Updated at | USD Price | Change | %Change |
| Crude Oil 11.00 | 101.75 | -2.04 | -1.97% |