U.S. WTI crude oil futures prices rebounded on Thursday, reversing three consecutive trading days of declinesfreeonlinevideopokerultimatextrends. But futures are still likely to decline this week. So far this week, U.S. WTI crude oil has fallen by 2.5 percentfreeonlinevideopokerultimatex.4%, and Brent crude oil prices, the benchmark for global crude oil prices, fell 1.8%.
In early trading Thursday, West Texas Intermediate crude oil (WTI) futures for July delivery rose 47 cents, or 0.6%, to $78.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude for July delivery rose 50 cents, or 0.6%, to $82.40 a barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange.
Crude oil futures prices have fluctuated in the $3 range since April. During this period, crude oil markets eased concerns about the expansion of the war in the Middle East and shifted their attention to the basic supply-demand relationship.
Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity futures analyst at UBS, said that in May, crude oil prices continued to struggle and were difficult to break through as investors worried that the Federal Reserve's approach of "maintaining higher interest rates for a longer period of time" would slow down U.S. economic growth and reduce crude oil demand.
