Oil price jumps by almost 5% as Omicron fear eases, US-Iran talks

Oil prices climbed by nearly 5% on Monday on hopes the Omicron coronavirus variant would have a less damaging economic impact if its symptoms proved mostly mild and as some OPEC member countries signaled confidence in the market.

Reports in South Africa said Omicron cases there had only shown mild symptoms and the top U.S. infectious disease official, Anthony Fauci, told CNN “it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity” so far.

The White House said on Monday that the U.S. ban on foreign nationals entering the country from eight southern African countries is something President Joe Biden’s public health advisers reconsider daily.