Pavel Ignatov/Shutterstock Save for later Print Download Share LinkedIn Twitter Macroeconomic gloom undermined crude oil futures. ICE Brent dropped $5.40 per barrel over the week to close at $81.10/bbl Thursday while Nymex West Texas Intermediate shed $4.87/bbl to go off the board at $77.29/bbl. Futures markets failed to take much heed of China’s dramatic post-Covid-19 recovery with economic weakness elsewhere taking a toll. The International Monetary Fund has just downgraded its global economic growth forecast for this year from 3.4% to 2.9% with further cuts likely. A year of warnings about the potential effects of the G7 price cap on Russian export volumes and two sizable Opec production cuts have failed to make much of an impression on headline oil prices.
