NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th February, 2020) Oil prices tumbled more than 15 percent on the week for their biggest weekly loss since 2008 that revived memories of the Great Recession, as investors fearing the worst from the coronavirus dumped everything from stocks to even safe havens like gold.
"Oil prices are falling out of control as fears continue to spread that coronavirus is out of control," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at the price Futures Group brokerage in Chicago.
The coronavirus has killed more than 2,800 people worldwide and infected about 83,000 more. The World Health Organization on Friday raised its worldwide risk assessment on the virus to "very high" from high.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US crude benchmark, settled down $2.33, or 5%, at $44.76 per barrel, its lowest closing since December 2018. For the week, WTI lost 16%, its biggest weekly drop since mid-December 2008, when the financial crisis was accelerating.
Brent, the London-traded global benchmark for crude, settled down $2.51, or 4.8%, at $49.67 per barrel, snapping the key $50 support. Brent's low for the day - $48.95 - was a bottom going back to July 2017. For the week, the global crude benchmark lost 15.1%.
Oil's plunge was in sync with the free-fall on Wall Street. The S&P 500, a barometer for the top 500 US stocks, fell 13% on the week, heading for its worst weekly drop since October 2008. Among precious metals, gold lost 3.5%, pressured by higher margin calls imposed on gold traders and selling by funds managers scrambling to cover losses elsewhere.
Crude prices may see some reprieve next week as the OPEC+ alliance of world oil producers, which include heavyweights such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, gather in Vienna on March 5-6 to discuss a potential cut of more than one million barrels per day from global production.
