Oil slumps with wider markets, denting record start to 2021
Oil’s record start to 2021 was under pressure from a firming dollar and a selloff in bond markets that spooked investors in risky assets.
Brent in London fell at the end of a week that saw the steepest decline in the Nasdaq 100 since the pandemic meltdown. Yet the global benchmark crude has had its best ever start to a year as supplies tighten and pockets of demand return. Next week, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies meet to decide on output levels, with market gauges indicating strength.
The demand outlook has improved, with traders and investment banks this week making a series of bullish calls and upward price revisions. The recent big freeze that halted millions of barrels of US output has exacerbated the tightening, and supply scarcity may worsen in the coming months as North Sea fields undergo major maintenance.
