Crude oil prices rapidly depreciate and already lost 2.5% on Friday morning. Two factors intensified the negative expectations of market participants: first, the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is spreading too quickly, and second, there is already great uncertainty about the results of the presidential elections in the US.
The price of futures contracts for Brent crude oil for delivery in January on the trading floor in London sank 2.54% at once, which sent it to $39.89 per barrel.
The price of futures contracts for WTI crude oil for December delivery on the electronic trading platform in New York lost 2.76% in the morning. Its current level was $37.72 per barrel.
Such a significant reduction in the value of black gold is justified by the rise that happened on Thursday and over the past several days. Raw materials were strengthening throughout the week, which allowed them to increase by about 5-6% to the value. Moreover, the growth intensified after the news that the level of oil reserves in the US over the past week was much lower than the preliminary data. In addition, the total volume of oil produced has also declined. All this further encouraged investors, who stepped up their activity in the markets, however, this led to the expected correction, which does not frighten market participants as much as the previous negative news.
The main attention of traders is now gradually shifting to the worsening epidemiological situation in the country. The spread of coronavirus infection is progressing at a rapid pace: in the last 24 hours alone, the number of infected people increased by a record of 120,000 new cases. This again prompted an active discussion of the possible introduction of strict restrictive quarantine measures, which are not perceived by investors too positively. Nevertheless, the recent experience of the European region, where the second wave of COVID-19 turned out to be much more serious than the first, shows that quarantine measures are necessary. Which, in turn, poses a great threat to the stability of the oil market.
The positive statistics that came out recently will only support the oil market well for a while, but then the issue of reducing the demand for raw materials will inevitably take the main attention of market participants. Demand in the context of the coronavirus pandemic is extremely limited and will decline even more with the adoption of new quarantine measures. This means that investors' fears will intensify.
Another major current concern for oil is uncertainty over the outcome of the US presidential vote. There is still no data from individual states and there are demands on the quality of the calculations and the procedure for their implementation. It should be noted that analysts had previously warned of a similar situation, pointing out the possible deliberate escalation of the situation.
So far, according to preliminary calculations, the candidate from the Democratic Party - Joe Biden is leading in the race. However, Donald Trump has already started accusing the Democrats of vote-rigging and dishonest political struggles, which only creates even more tension in anticipation of official results.
Taking into account all of the above, oil raw materials are now under intense pressure. In this regard, market participants must prepare for sales, which will force the price of black gold to rapidly decline further.
