Oil futures fell on Monday, with U.S. prices settling at their lowest price in more than a week. The Institute for Supply Management’s reading on U.S. service-sector business conditions rose to 56.5% in November, despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to ease inflation. “Continued Fed tightening can only reduce demand for oil,” said Manish Raj, chief financial officer at Velandera Energy Partners. Meanwhile, on the first day of trading after the European Union ban on Russian seaborne oil, Russian barrels are “flowing unabated with new Asian orders replacing the expiring European ones,” he said. U.S. benchmark WTI crude for January delivery CLF23 fell $3.05, or 3.8%, to settle at $76.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the lowest front-month contract finish since Nov. 25, FactSet data show.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.