Oil futures dropped Friday to their lowest settlement in about seven weeks, with prices posting a loss for a fourth consecutive week. “There have certainly been multiple bearish fundamental developments for the energy market over the last two weeks, including the discussion of coordinated oil reserve releases among major oil consumers around the globe and the uptick in COVID fears centered in Europe,” said Tyler Richey, co-editor at Sevens Report Research. Still, it may be too early to declare a top in the oil market as the latest pullback has “so far resembled a healthy, corrective pullback in an otherwise still upward trending oil market,” he said. December West Texas Intermediate oil fell $2.91, or 3.7%, to settle at $76.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Based on the front-month contract, which expired at the end of the session, prices logged their lowest finish since Oct. 1 and lost about 5.8% for the week, down a fourth week in a row, according to FactSet data. January WTI crude , the new front month, settled at $75.94, down $2.47, or nearly 3.2%.
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