Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Brent oil teeters on the brink of another $70 breakthrough

Barrels of oil against the background of American dollars. Sale of oil. Oil market.; Shutterstock ID 1295630341; Purchase Order: -
Barrels of oil against the background of American dollars. Sale of oil. Oil market.; Shutterstock ID 1295630341; Purchase Order: -

Brent crude oil flirted with another $70 per barrel breakthrough today (May 6) before easing back to slightly above $68, as of 6pm.

But oil markets analyst Louise Dickson, of Rystad Energy, said “bullish” momentum for oil prices was likely here to stay as traders stand by their “solid” expectations that global demand is going to grow soon, outpacing supply.

Prices are also supported by confidence that Europe is “on the cusp of reopening its economy after one of the strictest spring lockdowns globally,” Ms Dickson added.

The price of a barrel of global benchmark Brent crude burst through the $70 barrier in March, following a steady recovery from a 21-year low in April 2020.

Brent’s US cousin, West Texas Intermediate, hit minus $40 a barrel at one stage last year as a combination of an oil glut and greatly reduced demand amid the Covid-19 crisis drove a slump in prices.

Another good day for the Footsie

Meanwhile, London’s top market for shares hit another 14-month high today, with little impact from big decisions from the Bank of England.

The FTSE 100 ended the day firmly in the green, although a little tempered from Wednesday’s rocketing market.

By the end of the session the index had risen 0.5%, or nearly 37 points, to 7,076.17.

The Bank decided to keep both interest rates and its quantitative easing programme unchanged. It also decided to slash the size of its weekly bond purchases by £1 billion to £3.4bn.

Leading shares were likely helped by a falling pound, which was worth 1.3879 US dollars – a 0.2% drop – by the London market close. Sterling also fell 0.6% to 1.1518 euros.