Oil Drops Ahead of Weekly Inventories

Oil prices slid more than 3 percent on Friday as U.S. futures fell below $60 a barrel for the first time since December on renewed concerns about rising crude supplies.

U.S. and Brent crude futures have slid more than 11 percent from this year’s peak in late January. Brent fell nearly 9 percent for the week while U.S. crude dropped 10 percent, the steepest weekly declines since January 2016.

Futures posted a sixth straight day of losses, wiping away the year’s gains in a string of high-volume trading sessions, pressured by stronger-than-expected supply figures and a surprising ramp-up of the North Sea Forties Pipeline, which shut earlier in the week.

Turmoil on Wall Street also pressured crude. During the trading session, the S&P 500 stock index .SPX fell to its lowest level since Oct. 5. [.N] The S&P recovered to end the day higher, which helped oil bounce off session lows.

via Reuters

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