Oil market declines, ending the week in the red

The oil market continues to renew its multi-month lows. During the trading day, Brent quotes fell to $65.25 per barrel, while WTI prices reached $62.28 per barrel. Over the week, oil has fallen in price by more than 5% amid fears caused by another outbreak of Covid-19 in many regions of the world.

For example, the worsening epidemiological situation in the United States has already affected the main macroeconomic indicators, signaling a slowdown in the country's economic recovery. Retail sales in July sank 1.1% from the previous month. And the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index fell in the first half of August to its lowest level since 2011.

Additional pressure on the oil market was provided by data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Department of Energy. The growth in gasoline inventories in the United States also indicates a decrease in demand in the domestic market.

An increase in the number of cases of coronavirus is also observed in China, the largest importer of petroleum products. Recently, China closed one of the terminals of a major port, which is the third in the world in terms of cargo turnover, after detecting a case of infection of an employee with coronavirus. If the PRC continues to take such drastic restrictive measures, the already fragile supply chains may be at risk.