U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled at $75.19, up 1.2% on the possibility of a rise in demand for oil as China eased up on its COVID-19 restrictions. More importantly, last week, the United States Department of Energy announced that the U.S. Government will buy 3 million barrels of oil. The U.S. Government is doing this in order to replenish the country’s dwindling Strategic Petroleum Reserves.
Oil was on a downslide on Friday following a hike in interest rates from U.S. and European central banks, resulting in investors worrying about a possible recession.
Natural gas continued to drop, sliding 11.3% to settle at $5.851. The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) has shot up by more than 45% this year.
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