This post was originally published on this site
Oil futures edged lower Monday, fading after getting an early boost following President Donald Trump’s decision over the weekend to reverse course and sign legislation that includes $900 billion in aid to consumers and small businesses.
West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery CL.1, -1.20% CLG21, -1.20% fell 39 cents, or 0.8%, to $47.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading as high as $48.96. February Brent crude BRNG21, -0.78%, the global benchmark, was off 23 cents, or 0.4%, at $51.06 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
The early rally “faded in the face of an expected holiday spike in COVID-19 misery, and the seemingly imminent approval of another 500,000 [barrels a day] of OPEC+ crude oil at the January 4 monthly meeting,” said Robert Yawger, director of energy at Mizuho Securities, in a note.
The U.S. case tally has topped 19 million, and health experts warned the next few weeks will be hard after millions of Americans traveled over the Christmas holiday.
“The $600 check most Americans will receive as part of the stimulus deal will struggle to overcome demand destruction from a Christmas/New Year increase in COVID cases and deaths,” he said.
Trump, who had blindsided investors and lawmakers last week by blasting the $900 billion stimulus package and demanding that $600 checks to households be increased to $2,000, changed course late Sunday to sign the legislation. The package includes $1.4 trillion to fund government agencies through September, averting a government shutdown.
Meanwhile, January natural-gas futures NGF21, -7.82% plunged nearly 9% to $2.297 per million British thermal units, contributing to a month-to-date decline of more than 20%. Natural gas fell last week after a smaller-than-expected drop in storage levels, analysts said.
January gasoline futures RBF21, -0.86% fell 0.5% to $1.3721 a gallon, while January heating oil HOF21, -0.74% was down 0.7% at $1.4801 a gallon.
