04.05.202319:25:00UTC+00Oil Futures Settle Slightly Up

Crude oil futures pared early losses and settled just slightly lower on Thursday, due largely to some short-covering and speculative buying.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended down $0.04 at $68.56 a barrel, recovering well from a low of $63.57 a barrel.

Brent crude futures dropped to a low of $71.42 a barrel, but recovered subsequently and were hovering around $72.50 a barrel a little while ago, gaining about $0.17.

Edward Moya, Chief Market Analyst at OANDA says crude prices remain heavy on weakening demand from Asia and as US banking turmoil will eventually cripple the world's largest economy.

Moya also feels the banking crisis might take the oil market start pricing a much worse recession for the US. He says oil might struggle finding support around the mid $60s if equities continue to exhibit weakness.