AUTONEWS

Oil reaches the value of a pizza in the USA
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brent crude fell below the $20 a barrel mark and WTI plunged 25% on Monday, with investors fleeing the United States' benchmark due to lack of storage space amid the collapse demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Even with governments around the world looking for measures to ease movement restrictions and help the economy recover, demand for fuels remains weak.
According to Kpler data, fuel demand is down 30% globally, while inventory spaces are becoming something precious, with nearly 85% of the world's onshore storage filled up to last week.
Economic concerns also continue to plague the market. According to a Reuters poll of more than 500 economists, the global economy is expected to contract by 2% this year, a result worse than in the financial crisis.
US oil futures contracts closed down $4.16, or 24.6%, to $12.78 a barrel. Brent crude fell 1.45 dollars, or 6.8%, and ended the day at 19.99 dollars a barrel.
Traders said the drop in oil is partly due to retail investment vehicles, such as exchange-traded funds, that are shifting their investments from the first contract (for June) to prevent them from being "stuck" with the papers, as many were a week ago, when the first month's maturity (for May, until then) fell to -37.63 dollars a barrel.
Last week, oil futures experienced their third consecutive weekly decline, with a 24% drop for Brent and a 7% decline for WTI. Markets have fallen in eight of the past nine weeks. Stephanie Kelly