Crude goes back above $50 as OPEC meeting looms
Oil rose back above $50 a barrel Friday to a onemonth high amid growing confidence that OPEC will maintain its efforts to diminish a global glut.
Futures advanced 2 percent in New York, capping the biggest weekly gain since March. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will probably prolong their agreement at least until the end of the year, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Oil was also boosted by a weakening dollar, boosting the appeal of commodities as a store of value.
OPEC and its partners will meet Thursday in Vienna to decide whether to prolong their supply cuts past June. Several members have voiced support for the proposal to extend curbs after Russia and Saudi Arabia said global inventories haven’t yet fallen to targeted levels. Meanwhile, production in the U.S. has been increasing, threatening to derail the group’s goal.
“The focus is intensifying on what OPEC will do next,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy. “The prospect of longer cuts and a larger size are like a shiny object dangling in the sea.”
On Wall Street Friday, energy stocks climbed with the price of crude.
The gains helped trim some of the losses that traders booked two days earlier when the stock market posted its worst day in eight months amid deepening political turmoil in Washington.