2021.01.2819:20:00UTC+00Crude Oil Futures Settle Lower On Demand Concerns

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday as worries about outlook for energy demand outweighed recent data showing a substantial drop in crude inventories in the U.S. last week.

Rising coronavirus cases, tighter lockdown restrictions and worries over delay in vaccine supplies raised concerns about energy demand and dragged down oil prices.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $0.51 or about 1% at $52.34 a barrel, coming off the session's high of $53.58.

Brent crude futures were lower by about $0.42 or 0.7% at $55.11 a barrel a little while ago.

In economic news today, data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims fell to 847,000 in the week ended January 23rd, a decrease of 67,000 from the previous week's revised level of 914,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 875,000 from the 900,000 originally reported for the previous week.

A report from the Commerce Department said real gross domestic product jumped by 4% in the fourth quarter after skyrocketing by 33.4% in the third quarter.

Despite the rebound in the second half of the year, GDP for 2020 contracted by 3.5% following the 2.2% growth seen in 2019.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed new home sales in the U.S. rebounded in the month of December after falling for four consecutive months.