Global markets are trading mostly higher Tuesday despite another major reversal in the price of U.S. crude oil.
In Asia, the benchmark indexes in Tokyo, Sydney and Shanghai were basically flat, while Hong Kong and Seoul enjoyed gains in late afternoon trading. Over in Europe, London’s FTSE, the CAC-40 in Paris and the DAX index in Frankfurt were all in positive territory in early morning trading.
In oil futures trading, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, was at $10.23 per barrel, down nearly 20%, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading at $19.25 per barrel, a loss of 3.7%. The latest selloff in U.S. crude came after the United States Oil Fund, a popular exchange-traded fund, announced it would sell all of its contracts for June.
Oil markets have been struggling since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, with government imposed quarantines choking off demand and causing a massive glut of supplies. U.S. crude prices plunged last week below $0 per barrel for the first time in history.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are all trading higher in Tuesday’s futures trading.
