# Oil Posts Worst Quarter Ever While Physical Market Craters - Bloomberg

> Oil posted its worst quarter on record, with New York futures ending the quarter down more than 66%. Brent and WTI held above $20 a barrel despite signs of distress in the physical market. The gap between paper and physical barrels widened to multi-decade highs in some cases.

- Date: 2020-03-30 · published 2020-03-30T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: market · region Global · magnitude low
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/5325-oil-posts-worst-quarter-ever-while-physical-market-craters-bloomberg
- Commodities: [Crude Oil (WTI)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/WTI.md), [Crude Oil (Brent)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/BRENT.md)

## Why it matters

Wide gaps between futures and physical prices suggest financial flows are propping up futures, which can make crude price signals less reliable. Feed buyers should watch energy costs closely, as the physical market distress could lead to sharp swings.

## Read by commodity

- WTI: bearish ▼
- BRENT: bearish ▼

## Linked price moves

| Commodity | Date | Window | Change % | z-score | Why linked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| BRENT | 2020-03-31 | 5 | -39.4% | -6.8 | Worst-ever quarter with a physical market in distress shows glut and storage pressure weighing on prices into quarter end. |
| BRENT | 2020-03-31 | 1 | -22.6% | -4.1 | Quarter-end worst-ever performance and physical market distress (paper vs physical gap) point to expiry and quarter-end liquidation pressure on Brent. |

## Sources

- bloomberg.com: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-30/oil-sell-off-pauses-as-market-grapples-with-supply-demand-shock

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.