Oil futures settled with a loss on Friday, but finished the month higher. Oil prices ended the month with a solid gain as” mostly upbeat economic data and good earnings results suggest the global recovery is gaining traction and potentially accelerating, which in turn has bolstered the demand outlook,” said Tyler Richey, co-editor at Sevens Report Research. “A few optimistic analyst reports from major investment banks also helped oil prices rally this week, but soft overseas economic data paired with end-of-month book squaring” both weighed on oil prices Friday, he said. June West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.43, or 2.2%, to settle at $63.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The June contract ended the month with a climb of more than 7%, FactSet data show.
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