On Thursday, oil prices went down after the US posted the record-high one day hike in new coronavirus cases and a highly-populated state reimposed some lockdown measures which raised concerns over demand.
By 01.48 GMT, Brent crude oil futures slipped by 0.1% or 6 cents to USD41/97/barrel after on Wednesday it rose by 1.8%. US WTI also dropped by 0.3% to USD39.72/barrel after rising by 1.4% in the previous session.
According to a Reuters tally, on Wednesday the US posted new cases of coronavirus by close to 50,000, the highest one-day hike. Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas attributed to the new cases by more than half.
Dampening further the outlook of demand is California reimposing some of its lockdown measures as coronavirus infections surged in the region.
Analysts pointed out the spike of cases in the densely-populated US sunbelt states, one of the country’s biggest consumers of gasoline.
The news of the development of the outbreak in the US faded the optimism from Wednesday when the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that crude stockpiles in the country were slashed by 7.2 million barrels for the week ended June 26.
In the EIA report, however, gasoline inventories were shown to soar due to the sharp climb in imports to the highest level since August 2019, unexpectedly against the estimation for a fall.
Looking ahead, the market is now focusing on the driving activity in the US on the upcoming 4th of July holiday, and on how US producers resurrect the curbed output.
