By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - Oil prices fell for a third straight day on Friday, heading for their worst month since March, as fresh curbs placed on business and people in France and Germany to stop the spread of the coronavirus led to fears of wider lockdowns in Europe and elsewhere.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, the leading indicator for U.S. crude prices, was down 86 cents, or 2.4%, at 34.31 per barrel by 1:34 PM ET (17:35 GMT). On Thursday, WTI hit $34.93 per barrel, sinking below $35 the first time since mid-June.
For the week, WTI was down more than 11%, its biggest weekly loss since April, while for the month, it showed a loss of over 12%, the sharpest decline since March.
London-traded Brent, the global benchmark for oil, was down 75 cents, or 2%, on the day, to trade at $37.51 per barrel. Brent registered a weekly loss of more than 10% and was down over 8% for October.
French President Emmanuel Macron has ordered people to stay in their homes except for essential activities like buying food or getting medical care, Reuters reported. This follows the implementation of nightly curfews in several metropolitan areas, including Paris, as well as an order earlier this month to close bars and implement strict protocols on restaurants in the capital city.
Neighboring Germany has ordered non-essential services like restaurants and bars to be shut for at least a month while fellow EU nations like Italy and Spain have scaled back openings as well.
Ireland and the U.K. also have implemented restrictions to stem the spread of the virus.
The measures came as Europe reported 1.3 million new cases in the past seven days as of Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing data from the World Health Organization. Europe also reported more than 11,700 deaths, a 37% increase from the week before.
In the United States, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said a statewide curfew was possible after the state reported 2,089 new Covid-19 positive cases, its highest number in nearly six months.
The U.S. as a whole has logged almost 9 million coronavirus cases and almost 230,000 deaths from the virus.
Oil prices have been under pressure since the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday a 4.3-million barrel rise in crude stockpiles for last week, about four times more than expected.
The crude build reinforced concerns about depleting demand for fuel despite gasoline stockpiles and diesel-led distillate inventories.
Friday’s selloff was also exacerbated by a rise in the weekly count of U.S. oil rigs from industry firm Baker Hughes, which reported a 10 rig increase this week over last. A rise in oil rigs is indicative of higher future production.
More pressure from oil came from the sell-off on Wall Street, where the Dow fell more than 1.5% on the day, heading for its worst week and month since March