Crude Oil Drifts Higher; Weekly Gains Look Likely By Investing.com – Investing.com

Crude Oil Drifts Higher; Weekly Gains Look Likely By Investing.com – Investing.com

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Investing.com -- Crude oil prices edged higher Friday, set for a second straight weekly gain but below recent highs following disappointing U.S. growth data and Covid worries.

By 10:20 AM ET (1420 GMT), futures traded 0.1% higher at $73.73 a barrel, while the contract rose 0.1% to $75.18.

U.S. Gasoline RBOB Futures were up 0.1% at $2.3265 a gallon.

Both benchmark contracts are set for gains of around 2% over the week, helped by signs of tight crude supplies at the world’s largest consumer, the U.S. Both the and the reported a draw in U.S. crude oil supplies, with crude stocks at Cushing at their lowest since January 2020.

That said, data released Thursday showed U.S. increased at a 6.5% annualized rate in the last quarter, a healthy gain but substantially less than the 8.5% growth expected. 

Additionally, while Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated following the central bank’s latest meeting earlier this week that the U.S. economy has "learned to handle" the coronavirus, this belief could be tested by a fresh wave of infections as schools reopen.

The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has