Oil Futures Settle Lower in Slow Black Friday Trade

1459 ET – Oil futures reverse course late in the session to end down in low-volume Black Friday trade. The market remains focused on prospects for a Russia-Ukraine peace that could eventually see U.S. sanctions lifted, while the OPEC+ weekend meeting is widely expected to confirm the group’s previous decision to pause production increases in the first quarter. WTI settles down 0.2% at $58.55 a barrel. Brent crude for January goes off the board at $63.20 a barrel, down 0.2%, and the February contract falls 0.8% to $62.38. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)

Crude Futures Gain as U.S. Market Reopens

1533 GMT – Crude futures are higher as the U.S. market reopens after Thanksgiving and WTI trading resumes following an outage at the CME. WTI is up 1.1% at $59.29 a barrel, and Brent is up 0.2% to $62.97. The market continues to watch for progress in Russia-Ukraine peace efforts, while OPEC+ is expected to confirm at its weekend meeting that it will keep production targets steady in January. “Much of today’s price gains appear related to reduced optimism regarding peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia,” advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates says in a note. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)