By Stephanie Kelly
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices rose about 2% on Thursday as record US implicit demand, falling stockpiles and a positive economic outlook from the Federal Reserve (Fed) outstripped fears that the Ômicron coronavirus variant harms global consumption.
Oil and other risky assets such as equities also received a boost after the Fed gave a favorable economic outlook, lifting investor sentiment even as the US central bank signaled a long-awaited end to monetary stimulus.
“The market was scared of what the Fed would do, and now that it’s in the rearview mirror and we know what we’re dealing with, the market is on the mend,” said Phil Flynn, senior futures price analyst in Chicago.
Brent crude rose $1.14, or 1.5%, to close at $75.02 a barrel. US crude oil (WTI) advanced $1.51, or 2.1%, to finish at $72.38 a barrel, a gain of 2.13%.
Demand increased in 2021, after last year’s collapse of the pandemic. On Wednesday, the US Energy Information Administration (IEA) said refinery-supplied output, an indicator of demand, rose in the last week to 23.2 million barrels per day (bpd).
“These numbers suggest a healthy economic scenario,” said Tamas Varga, of oil brokerage PVM.
(Additional reporting by Alex Lawler and Jessica Jaganathan)
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