Oil prices recovered late on Tuesday after plummeting to trading-day lows after the terror attacks in Brussels.
“Oil is very much distracted by macro events today,” Matthew Smith, director of commodity research at Clipper Data, told Reuters.
In the end, however, oil prices bounced back.
Brent crude oil futures hit a low of $40.97 a barrel on Tuesday, but bounced back to end at $41.80.
U.S. May crude oil futures recovered from $40.77 to end trading at $41.80.
Prices have climbed back to about $40 a barrel in recent weeks from lows in the $20s because of expectations that major oil-producing countries might agree to freeze production, as well as supply outages in Nigeria and Iraq and projections that U.S. output will continue to drop. A meeting between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC countries is scheduled for April 17.
The coordinated attacks that rocked Brussels Tuesday morning resulted in the death of more than two dozen people, with about 200 reported as injured. The attacks were coordinated, targeting the Belgium capital’s airport and its metro transit system.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.
President Obama on Tuesday, after condemning the attacks in remarks given during a state visit to Cuba, issued a presidential proclamation honoring the victims of the attacks.
“We will do whatever it takes, working with nations and peoples around the world, to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice, and to go after terrorists who threaten our people,” Obama said.
