Oil prices were headed for a fourth consecutive monthly loss early on Friday as a data center glitch forced CME Group to halt trading in futures and options, disrupting oil futures trades as well as equities, bonds, and foreign exchange.
“Due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centers, our markets are currently halted,” CME Group, of which NYMEX is part, said in early Asian trade on Friday.
“Support is working to resolve the issue in the near term and will advise clients of Pre-Open details as soon as they are available.”
Just before the technical outage that halted live trades in commodities, equities, and bonds, WTI Crude futures traded at $59.08, up by 0.73%.
Brent Crude futures on the ICE exchange were down by 0.11% at $63.27 as of 5:55 a.m. ET.
The trading halt in WTI Crude futures stoked concerns that volatility may be higher when live trading resumes on the last trading day of November.
At any rate, both crude benchmarks were on track to post their fourth monthly loss in a row, amid concerns about oversupply. At the OPEC+ meeting this weekend, producers from the group are expected to stick with their decision to pause oil production increases in the first quarter of 2026.
Traders are also watching the negotiations the U.S. is trying to broker about ending the war in Ukraine, with some expecting that a potential deal could ease sanctions on Russian energy flows.
“Crude prices are heading for their steepest run of monthly losses since 2023, pressured by rising supply from producers both outside—and increasingly inside—the OPEC+ group,” analysts at Saxo Bank said in a Friday note.
“This week’s brief hope of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal also weighed on sentiment, though that prospect has since faded. WTI and Brent remain firmly rangebound, with the latter stuck in a broad USD 60–67 corridor.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
