Oil prices drop as near-term demand concerns overshadow Covid-19 vaccine hopes
US oil prices fell in early trade on Tuesday as concerns over demand in the near term in coronavirus-hit economies in Europe and the United States returned to haunt the market after an overnight surge on progress towards a Covid-19 vaccine.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped 81 cents, or two per cent, to $39.48 a barrel at 0029 GMT, having jumped eight per cent on Monday, its biggest daily gain in more than five months, after drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech said an experimental Covid-19 treatment was more than 90 per cent effective based on initial trial results.
“A viable vaccine is unequivocally game-changing for oil — a market where half of demand comes from moving people and things around,” JP Morgan said in a note
