(July 3, 2012)
It was a volatile month for crude oil, which plunged to multi-month lows, and also snapped back with aggressive rallies. On the last trading day of the month, oil futures surged 9.4%, their strongest rally in more than three years after European leaders came to agreement on a strategy to combat the ongoing debt crisis. Adding to oil’s upside was a European Union ban on the purchase, transport, financing and insurance of Iranian oil come July.
Oil for August delivery climbed $7.27 to finish the month at $84.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest one-day rally since March 12, 2009. Brent oil for August settlement rose $6.44, or 7 percent, to $97.80 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Earlier in the last trading week of June, oil was near an eight-month low, its second week of declines over indications that the global economy was headed for a slowdown. Contributing to the souring sentiment was disappointing business and consumer confidence and manufacturing surveys across the world. Oil for August delivery fell as much as 64 cents to $77.56 a barrel, the lowest since Oct. 5, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent oil for August settlement was up 31 cents at $89.54 a barrel after sliding 74 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $88.49 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. That’s the lowest since Dec. 2, 2010.