WTI crude futures fell almost 3% to around $74 per barrel on Friday, extending losses for a second consecutive session as concerns about recession-driven demand downturn, particularly among advanced economies, took the driver’s seat. Global industrial activity remains weak, especially in the US and Europe, with tightening financial conditions denting economic activity while posing a significant risk to the demand outlook. Still, the US benchmark rallied roughly 4% this week amid optimism about a recovery in Chinese fuel consumption and tight global supplies. The IEA offered a somewhat bullish outlook for markets next year, citing the reopening of the Chinese economy as a critical driver for growth and demand. On the supply side, OPEC+ decided to stick to their existing policy of reducing oil output by 2 million barrels a day from November through 2023. The shutdown of the Keystone pipeline added to the highly uncertain supply outlook.

US equities closed lower on Friday, notching a second consecutive week of losses as fears mounted that aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve could tip the world’s largest economy into a recession. The Dow was down 282 points while the S&P 500 fell 1.1% and Nasdaq Composite shed almost 1%. For the week, all three major US stock indexes were down over 1%. Stocks have been under heavy pressure since Wednesday after the Federal Reserve reaffirmed its commitment to raise interest rates further and keep them higher for longer. Adding to the gloomy outlook was a sharper-than-expected decline in business activity in December as new orders sank to the lowest level in just over 2-1/2 years. On the positive side, Facebook parent Meta Platforms jumped more than 4% after J.P. Morgan upgraded the stock to “overweight” from “neutral.”.

Silver traded higher in the middle of the week but has tumbled on Thursday. Price is essentially unchanged relative to the previous week. Silver futures and options contracts are used by mining companies, fabricators of finished products, and users of silver-content industrial materials to manage their price risk. As a precious metal, silver also plays a role in investment portfolios. The largest industrial users of silver are the photographic, jewelry, and electronic industries. The biggest producers of silver are: Mexico, Peru and China followed by Australia, Chile, Bolivia, United States, Poland and Russia.