Crude Futures Fall for First Time in Three Years

Crude oil prices slip in the final trading day of the year, closing out 2023 with a first loss since 2020. Front-month WTI settles down 0.2%, at $71.65 a barrel, almost 11% below its year-earlier level. International benchmark Brent edges down 0.1%, to $77.04 a barrel, and is off 10% for the year. With concerns about shipping risks in the Red Sea abating, the market will likely go into the new year focusing on demand issues and additional voluntary output cuts for 1Q announced by OPEC and its allies. “One of the things that keeps me on the bearish side for energy is that fundamentally the market is still somewhat overbought in terms of demand, and so this artificial stand that OPEC has taken by cutting production, I don’t believe is accurate,” says Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital.