Oil holds loss with coronavirus overshadowing US stockpiles

Oil held a loss — but remained near a five-month high — as an industry report pointing to another drop in American crude stockpiles was overshadowed by the coronavirus and a lack of progress on US stimulus talks.

Futures in New York were steady near $42 a barrel after losing 0.8% Tuesday. The American Petroleum Institute reported inventories fell by 4.01 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the data. That would be the third straight weekly drop if confirmed by government figures.

Virus infections breached 20 million globally, Florida reported another day of record deaths and New Zealand’s largest city went back into lockdown after a fresh outbreak. The S&P 500 stock benchmark fell for the first time in eight sessions on Tuesday, with some traders citing comments from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying stimulus talks are at a stalemate as a catalyst.