Investing.com - Crude oil futures fell Tuesday after U.S. ratings agency Moody's downgraded several European countries and threatened to strip Austria, France and the U.K. of their AAA ratings in the near future.
Trading was halted due to a technical glitch in the U.S. session on Monday, which threw traders a curveball when Asia opened for business on Tuesday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at USD100.87 a barrel, down 0.41%.
The commodity hit an earlier session high of USD101.14 and a low of USD100.80.
Oil shot up in recent sessions thanks to Greece's parliamentary approval to accept austerity measures in exchange for the green light from multilateral institutions to tap a EUR130 billion bailout fund.
The news curbed fears that Greece would go through a messy default and pummel the European economy.
Escalating tensions between Israel and Iran over the latter's nuclear ambitions also pressured the commodity higher.
However, the announcement from Moody's that it was downgrading sovereign ratings for Italy, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta while slapping negative outlooks on Austria, France and the U.K. spooked energy markets still scrambling to regroup after a technical glitch disrupted trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday.
Furthermore, Greece's parliamentary approval of austerity measures doesn't mean the country is well on its way to recovery, which leaves room for economic uncertainty, a bearish push in oil markets.
Athens must still convince the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund that it is implementing the reforms it recently agreed to carry out.
Furthermore, sentiments that U.S. inventories are on the rise also sent traders selling and taking profits.
On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for April delivery were down 0.21% and trading at USD116.87 a barrel, up USD16.00 from its U.S. counterpart.
The gap in price between the two contracts is pushing close toward the higher end of a range between a nearly USD20.00 all-time high and a historical spread of USD1.00.
Trading was halted due to a technical glitch in the U.S. session on Monday, which threw traders a curveball when Asia opened for business on Tuesday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at USD100.87 a barrel, down 0.41%.
The commodity hit an earlier session high of USD101.14 and a low of USD100.80.
Oil shot up in recent sessions thanks to Greece's parliamentary approval to accept austerity measures in exchange for the green light from multilateral institutions to tap a EUR130 billion bailout fund.
The news curbed fears that Greece would go through a messy default and pummel the European economy.
Escalating tensions between Israel and Iran over the latter's nuclear ambitions also pressured the commodity higher.
However, the announcement from Moody's that it was downgrading sovereign ratings for Italy, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta while slapping negative outlooks on Austria, France and the U.K. spooked energy markets still scrambling to regroup after a technical glitch disrupted trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday.
Furthermore, Greece's parliamentary approval of austerity measures doesn't mean the country is well on its way to recovery, which leaves room for economic uncertainty, a bearish push in oil markets.
Athens must still convince the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund that it is implementing the reforms it recently agreed to carry out.
Furthermore, sentiments that U.S. inventories are on the rise also sent traders selling and taking profits.
On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for April delivery were down 0.21% and trading at USD116.87 a barrel, up USD16.00 from its U.S. counterpart.
The gap in price between the two contracts is pushing close toward the higher end of a range between a nearly USD20.00 all-time high and a historical spread of USD1.00.