Coronavirus injuries increase and the US elections lower oil prices
West Texas Intermediate crude fell to 37.73 dollars a barrel.
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American oil fell more than 2%, as new general isolation measures in Europe to stop the rise in Coronavirus infections fueled concerns about the outlook for demand, while markets remain in a state of tension due to the long-running US election counting.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell $ 1.06, or 2.7%, to $ 37.73 a barrel, after falling 0.9% the day before yesterday.
Brent crude fell $ 1.05, or 2.6%, to $ 39.88, after falling 0.7% in the previous session.
Italy recorded the largest daily number of infections, the day before yesterday, and cases rose by at least 120 thousand and 276 cases in the United States, which is the second highest daily record in a row with the spread of the outbreak across the country.
"The escalation of Covid-19 across Europe and the United States is likely to deal a blow to consumption," said Jeffrey Haley, chief market analyst at OANDA.
He added, "In the absence of concrete evidence that (OPEC Plus) is moving towards slowing or reversing the pace of production increases, the imbalance between supply and demand limits the wave of oil increases (that began) before the elections."
The European Commission also lowered its economic forecasts and predicted that the European Union will not witness a recovery to pre-virus levels until 2023. The counting and trends of votes in the US elections show that the Republicans will retain control of the Senate, while the Democrats are expected to obtain a slim majority in the House of Representatives, This dips hopes for a big stimulus package, and is another factor pressing on oil.
It is expected that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, in what is known as the "OPEC Plus" group, will delay the return of two million barrels per day of supplies next January, given the decrease in demand due to the new isolation measures related to "Covid- 19 ».
The market received some support, as US crude oil inventories fell last week, although most of the decrease was attributed to the halt in production as another hurricane swept across the Gulf of Mexico.
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