Oil Futures Cut Their Losses To Settle Just Pennies Lower

Oil futures cut most of their earlier losses Thursday to finish a few cents lower, rebounding from a nearly one-week low. The U.S. Federal Reserve minutes released Wednesday showed that an interest-rate hike was possible in June, providing support to the U.S. dollar and pressuring dollar-denominated oil prices during Thursday's session. June WTI crude , however, settled just 3 cents lower at $48.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For now, "investors are breaking their heads over the recent comments out of the Fed, and weighing if they are bluffing or not on a rate hike in June," said Nico Pantelis, head of research at Secular Investor. "This brings renewed volatility to the trading pits."