Oil futures rose Tuesday, finding support as traders turned their attention to easing COVID19 restrictions in the U.S. and Europe, which look to help boost energy demand.
In the U.S., demand is surging, and combined with plans to ease U.K. restrictions on air travel, those developments are offsetting concerns about demand destruction in India and the worries about the return of supply from Iran, said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, is vowing to not shut down the Indian economy despite a lot of outside pressure to do so, Flynn said in a Tuesday note.
West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery rose 81 cents, or 1.3, to 65.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. July Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 96 cents, or 1.4, at 68.52 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Investors remain squarely focused on reopening optimism this week amid hopes that the easing of lockdown restrictions in the U.S. and Europe will result in a rise in fuel demand, said Sophie Griffiths, market analyst at Oanda, in a note.
The European Commission on Monday proposed welcoming fully COVID19vaccinated travelers and tourists from countries with a good epidemiological situation. European airline shares jumped.
In the U.S., several states began lifting or announced plans to lift or ease lockdown restrictions. The average number of new cases in the U.S. fell below 50,000 a day for the first time since…