Oil Prices Head for Second Weekly Loss Despite Fresh Middle East Attacks

Crude oil prices were on course to book their second week of losses today, after two consecutive days of gains on news from the Middle East. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $95.87 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $88.49 per barrel. These price levels are a sharp decline from the peaks hit in mid-October, but are still significantly higher than what Brent crude and WTI traded at in February, before the war started. Signals about that war remain mixed. There appears to be only a moderate risk of serious escalation, but…