Oil Down And More Hurt Coming, But Coronavirus Treatment Could Be "A Few Weeks" Away

Meanwhile, the Saudis seem bent on pumping full out: File Image/PixaBay

The bad news on Friday is that a $2-trillion stimulus to be enacted Sunday by Washington hasn't yet quelled traders' coronavirus worries and didn't prevent another price plunge for crude, which posted a fifth straight weekly loss.

The good news is that medical researchers continue to quickly close in on the one-two punch of both treatment and a vaccine to end the pandemic.

Brent crude settled down $1.41, or 5.35 percent at $24.93 per barrel, contributing to an 8 percent fall on the week; West Texas Intermediate settled down $1.09 at $21.51 per barrel, helping along a 3 percent decline for the week.

Unsurprisingly, Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho, relayed an ominous message by declaring of Friday's trading performance, "We ran out of ammunition to support the market; the government used up all their bullets this week - next week the market is on its own."

Yawger made this remark despite not knowing what the reaction to the stimulus bill will be when it is passed on Sunday.

It's also unclear what the medium-term positive effect might be of the Group of 20 major economies on pledging to inject more than $5 trillion into the global economy to limit job and income losses and "do whatever it takes to overcome the pandemic."

As for Saudi Arabia holding to its decision to pump all out and wrestle market share from Russia despite the destruction to the overall market, Eugen Weinberg, analyst at Commerzbank, said, "We have our doubts about whether Saudi Arabia will allow itself to be persuaded so easily to return from the path of revenge that it only recently embarked upon."

All but ignored in the news media's scramble to outdo each other with doomsday headlines is the remarkable progress being made by medical researchers to end the pandemic - and their efforts were acknowledged on Friday by Peter Pitts, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner and president and co-founder of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.

He told media, "The good news is we're expediting [treatment development] iand fast-tracking without rushing....I think we're going to have some therapeutics that will help decrease the symptoms of covid as well as shorten its duration relatively soon, maybe in two weeks, maybe a little more than that - that's good news for people who are suffering."

He added, "I think the vaccine is about 10 months to a year away, and actually for vaccines that's quickly."

Pitts also warned people to keep the pandemic in perspective: "Most people with covid will have mild symptoms; they shouldn't have these types of medicines, we need to save them for people who really do need them."

Pitts said more good news to keep in mind is that numerous companies and not just one are currently developing a vaccine, "so you have a number of shots at goal to succeed."

Plus, plasma from the tens of thousands of people who have recovered from covid is being used in vaccine development as it was traditionally for smallpox and other diseases, "and I think we'll be up and running there fairly quickly," according to Pitts.