Oil steadies but European lockdowns hurt outlook for demand recovery
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil steadied on Monday as hopes for a pick-up in demand later this year helped arrest last week’s broad sell-off, but prices stayed under pressure as new European coronavirus lockdowns made a quick recovery look less likely.
Brent crude was up 6 cents or 0.1% to $64.59 a barrel by 1:33 p.m. ET (1733 GMT), while U.S. oil for delivery in April fell 22 cents, or 0.4%, to $61.20 a barrel ahead of expiry.
The more active U.S. crude futures for delivery in May rose 14 cents or 0.2% to $61.58 a barrel.
Both contracts fell more than 6% last week after making steady gains for months on the back of output cuts and an expected demand recovery.
