Oil futures defy a tech-led slide in equities and post gains, held up by a report that China is willing to talk trade with the U.S. under certain conditions, further losses in the U.S. dollar, and a smaller-than-expected build in U.S. crude-oil stockpiles.
“A return to some kind of ‘normal’ trade relationship between the two largest economies in the world would be a positive price development that could postpone some of the more dire forecasts for oil prices,” Mizuho’s Robert Yawger says in a note.
The Treasury Department, meanwhile, stepped up enforcement against Iran with sanctions against a second Chinese independent refinery for buying what it said was more than $1 billion of Iranian oil.
WTI settles up 1.9% at $62.47 a barrel and Brent rises 1.8% to $65.85 a barrel.
