Oil prices were set to break the longest winning streak since February on Friday over worries about China growth and fresh friction between Beijing and Hong Kong.
July West Texas Intermediate oil CLN20, -6.86% CL.1, -6.86% dropped $2.46, or 7.3%, to $31.47 a barrel. On Thursday, the contract rose 1.3% to settle at $33.91, which was the highest since March 10, based on the front-month contracts, according to Dow Jones Market Data. It also marked the sixth straight positive session for oil.
Global benchmark Brent crude for July delivery BRN.1, -5.71% BRNN20, -5.71% dropped $1.98, or nearly 5.4%, to $34.10 a barrel. The contract rose 0.9% to settle at $36.06 a barrel on Thursday, the highest settlement since March 10.
Losses for oil came as global equities and U.S. stock futures fell. Dow futures YM00, -0.93% dropped nearly 200 points to 24,179 on Friday, after a losing day on Wall Street, driven by concerns about trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. Investors may also be wary of holding onto perceived riskier assets such as stocks and oil ahead of the long holiday weekend in the U.S. and U.K.
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Investors were also rattled by concerns of fresh unrest in Hong Kong after news the Chinese government is considering a sweeping national security law that could rein in the territory’s autonomy. Last year saw increasingly violent protests in the financial hub, though the coronavirus outbreak slowed some of that activity.
Elsewhere, China’s top economic official said on Friday that the country won’t set a growth target for 2020, and pledged to spend more to repair economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak.
Natural-gas futures continued to fall after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 81 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 15. June natural gas NGM20, -1.22% fell 0.8% to $1.69 per million British thermal units.
June gasoline RBM20, -4.35% fell 2.7% to $1.0168 a gallon and June heating oil HOM20, -4.46% dropped 3.2% to 95.68 cents a gallon.
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