Oil futures traded lower Friday, pulling back a day after U.S. prices tallied their longest streak of consecutive session gains in nine years, but remained on track to score a second weekly climb in a row.
A move higher in the last few minutes of trading on Thursday allowed oil futures to notch a ninth straight session of gains. That was the longest winning streak since January 2010 for the U.S. benchmark. For global benchmark Brent, it was the longest in more than 11 years.
“I think oil prices went up too high too quick, without a pause, so what we are seeing could simply be profit taking at around key resistance levels,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at Forex.com. However, “fundamentally, the outlook doesn’t look too bright. Not only is non-OPEC supply [looking] set to rise, but the demand outlook doesn’t look too great this year.”
In Friday dealings, West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery CLG9, -2.13%[1] fell $1.37, or 2.6%, to $51.22 a barrel. The settlement Thursday at $52.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange was the highest since Dec. 7, according to Dow Jones Market Data. WTI was poised for a weekly rise of about 6.9%.
Prices climbed out of a bear market Wednesday and as of Thursday’s settlement, have climbed by about 24% from the 52-week low of $42.53 on Dec. 24.
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March Brent crude LCOH9, -2.16%[4] declined by $1.11, or 1.8%, to $60.57 a barrel, with prices looking at a gain of 6.1% for the week. The settlement at $61.68 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe Thursday was the highest since Dec. 4.
The market moved higher just ahead of the oil settlement Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stressed again[5] that the central bank is flexible and patient and can change policy on a dime if the economic outlook worsens, a move seen potentially supportive for future oil demand. Following the comments, the dollar continued to strengthen[6] and U.S. benchmark equity indexes traded higher as oil futures settled[7].
“Powell took the spotlight amid a Fedspeak frenzy echoing his recent comments from last week that the central bank’s commitment was to proceed with caution on the monetary policy, which of course was viewed very favorably by oil markets as...