2020.10.0510:29:00UTC+00Oil Rebounds As Norwegian Strike Escalates

Oil rose on Monday as signs that Donald Trump's health was improving and an escalating workers' strike in Norway helped prices recover from a three-week low.

Benchmark Brent crude jumped 3.6 percent to $40.68 a barrel, after having declined 2.7 percent on Friday following Trump's diagnosis.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November delivery were up nearly 4 percent at $38.50 after falling 4.3 percent in the previous session.

Signs that Trump's health was improving helped ease some concerns surrounding the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Trump's doctors said he's doing well and could be discharged later today.

Investors are also pinning hopes on the last economic stimulus boost to the economy before the U.S. election, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi telling CBS in an interview that progress was being made on coronavirus relief legislation to respond to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Separately, Politico reported that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Pelosi consulted Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell about their stimulus plan talks.

Prices also remain supported by an escalating strike among offshore workers in Norway, with energy major Equinor shutting four of its offshore oil and gas fields.

Production would have to stop at two more fields operated by Neptune Energy and Wintershall Dea because of the strike, the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (NOG) has said.

"The risk therefore exists that about eight percent of total petroleum production from the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) could be lost through extending the strike," it said.