Weekly Fundamentals - Hopes of Crude Oil Output Freeze Dissipate

Energy prices slumped last Friday as Saudi Arabia "predicted" that there would not be any decision at the unofficial meeting in Algiers next week. Adding to the bearish sentiment was the Fed's plan to restrict financial institutions' involvement in physical commodities. Both crude oil benchmarks fell more than -3.5% at close Friday, trimming the weekly gains of WTI and Brent contracts to +3.37% and +0.26% respectively. Following 2 consecutive weeks' of rally in gasoline prices, the RBOB contract retreated -5.8% last week.