In the early morning of the 18th Beijing time, U.S. crude oil futures prices fell on Friday, falling from their highest level since the end of July. Analysts believe profit take-back was the main reason for Friday's fall in gold futures.
Marshall Steeves, an energy market analyst at IHS Markit, believes, “The sale of U.S. crude oil futures on Friday is mainly due to profit recovery after the rise earlier this week.”
He said crude oil futures prices soared after the US Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that US crude oil inventories fell again last week. Furthermore, due to tropical storm Nicholas and hurricane Ida, nearly 30% of the energy production capacity in the US Gulf Sea region is still shut down.
“However, the prospects for global growth are weakening because the Delta variant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly,” he said.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 64 cents, or 0.9%, to close at $71.97 per barrel. On Thursday, WTI futures closed at $72.61, the same as Wednesday, all the highest closing prices since July 30.
According to FactSet data, WTI crude oil futures prices rose 3.2% cumulatively this week.