#Futures Movers: U.S. oil rebounds to end back above $75, after omicron sparked early Monday slump

However, crude futures gained support from a focus on optimistic news, including out of China, one of the biggest importers of commodities in the world.

The People’s Bank of China pledged greater support for the real economy, with the central bank saying that it would aim for targeted policy measures to stimulate the world’s second-largest economy.

Energy experts also pointed to reported comments from Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, in which the energy official of one of the biggest oil producing nations said the world faces a 30-million-a-barrel-a-day supply shortfall by the end of the decade, Bloomberg reported.

Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at the PRICE Futures Group, also said buying was supported by reports suggesting that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was disinclined, at the moment, to impose mobility restrictions in the U.K. The British leader, however, still appeared to be examining the impact of the spread of omicron domestically.

Crude futures concluded an abbreviated week of trade last week with a 4% weekly rise during the Christmas stretch, with U.S. markets closed on Friday in observance of the holiday.

Next week, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, forming a group known as OPEC+, is set to gather Jan. 4.

“The group is expected to stick with its decision to raise oil output by a further 400k barrels a day, although some have argued they will be more cautious because of the virus situation,” wrote Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at ThinkMarkets, in a note dated Friday.

“If they do stick with status quo, I think this will put some pressure on oil prices,” the ThinkMarkets analyst wrote.

West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery
CLG22,
+2.56%

CL00,
+2.56%
was trading $1.78, or 2.4%, higher, to settle at $75.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after putting in a 4.3% weekly gain on Thursday, which pushed the U.S. benchmark contract to the highest finish since Nov. 24.

Meanwhile, February Brent crude
BRNG22,
+0.09%,
 the global benchmark, rose $2.46, or 3.2%, to close at $78.60 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, following a 3.6% weekly finish on Friday, with the ICE Europe market open on Christmas Eve.

Since the weekend, airlines have canceled thousands of flights globally, citing staffing problems tied to COVID, as travel woes extended beyond Christmas, with no clear indication when normal schedules would resume.

Meanwhile, natural-gas futures
NG00,
+9.43%
 for January
NGF22,
+9.43%
were trading 32.9 cents, or 8.8%, higher to end at $4.0600 per million British thermal units on Nymex. The January contract expires at the end of Wednesday’s session.

January gasoline futures
RBF22,
+1.22%
 were trading 2.78 cents, or 1.3%, higher to end at $2.2339 a gallon, while the most-active February contract
RBG22,
+1.20%
added 2.71 cents, or 1.3%, to close at $2.2304 a gallon. Gasoline’s January contract expires at the end of the week.

January heating oil
HOF22,
+0.99%
gained 2.21 cents, or about 1%, to settle at $2.3535 a gallon. January heating oil contracts also expire at the end of trading on Friday.