Looking good Oil prices were poised for a second weekly gain in a row early on Friday, as traders bet that the worst of the demand loss is behind us while production cuts from OPEC+ and North America will accelerate.
As of 10:36 a.m. EDT on Friday, WTI Crude was up 4.71 percent at $24.72, and Brent Crude was trading up 3.02 percent at $30.39.
Oil prices are on course to wrap up their second consecutive week of gains, following one of the worst months in the history of oil, which saw WTI Crude front-month futures plunge into negative territory to close at -$37 a barrel a day before the contract expired.
Last week was the first week in over a month in which oil prices recorded a weekly gain.
This week, the market looked at signs of demand picking up as lockdowns were eased in some U.S. states and major European economies. Inventory builds in the United States slowed down from the record-high builds reported in previous weeks, as gasoline demand began to slowly crawl up from the lows seen in mid-April.
As oil prices have gained prominence in the news cycles over the past two months because of ‘everything unprecedented’ in demand, supply, OPEC+ deals, investors and traders piled into oil-linked products. They have increased money flows into oil-centric exchange-traded products (ETPs) in the hope that oil prices will rebound, Emily Doak at Charles Schwab said in a note this week.