By Barani Krishnan
Oil prices were up slightly in New York’s early afternoon trade Friday, sharply off the day’s high as Wall Street pared gains too on growing fears of a recession ahead of a news conference by President Donald Trump, who was expected to declare a national emergency over the coronavirus crisis.
Crude prices were also headed to weekly losses of as much as 25%, the biggest decline for a week since December 2008, when the financial crisis was underway.
West Texas Intermediate, the New York-traded benchmark for U.S. crude prices, was up 20 cents, or 0.6%, at $31.70 per barrel by 1:06 PM ET (17:06 GMT). It rose to as high as $33.87 in intraday trade. For the week, WTI was down 23%.
Brent, the London-traded global benchmark for crude, gained 47 cents, or 1.4%, to $33.69. It hit a session high of $35.77 earlier. For the week, Brent was down 25%.
