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The NYMEX May WTI front-month contract settled at minus $37.63 per barrel, the first negative settlement ever, as Cushing storage neared capacity and traders were forced to exit positions before expiration. The prior record low settlement was $10.42 in 1986.
Lack of physical storage at the delivery point forced liquidations, signaling severe oversupply in crude markets. This bearish shock also spills into energy inputs and feed-linked costs such as diesel and freight.
spglobal.comApr 20, 2020Not enough comparable past events yet for a historical read.
Not enough comparable past events yet for a historical read.
Moves of each commodity's benchmark from the last close before the event. Historical reads pool past events of the same kind; they describe what happened, not what will. Not investment advice.
Record negative May WTI settlement on 2020-04-20 due to full Cushing storage drove an input-cost and sentiment collapse that dragged ULSD futures down sharply the same day.
The first-ever negative WTI settlement on April 20 cut crude input costs and set off a sentiment-driven selloff across the energy complex, including ULSD.
