- Oil bounced up Tuesday, with a technical meeting between OPEC and its allies offering a glimmer of hope to the embattled commodity.
- The Wall Street Journal reported that OPEC and allies are meeting to discuss production cuts amid coronavirus concerns.
- China, the world's largest importer of oil, demanded 20% less oil amid coronavirus.
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Oil bounced Tuesday as delegates from OPEC and ally countries met to begin talks on how the cartel should respond to the coronavirus outbreak.
Delegates are considering whether to cut output more drastically than previously planned, The Wall Street Journal reported. OPEC is slated to publish recommendations for oil output later this week, though the official decision would have to come after the cartel officially meets, according to The Journal. That meeting could come as early as next week, The Journal reported.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, traded as high as 2.2%. WTI crude traded up as much as 2.9%. The bump is refuge for a commodity that's been battered by the outbreak: Oil on Monday entered bear-market territory, generally defined as a 20% dip from market highs.
Oil markets have scrambled to gauge how big of an impact the virus could have on China as the world's biggest importer of oil. Monday, it got an answer: China demanded 20% less oil since the coronavirus outbreak began.
The Journal report said that OPEC has initially planned to cut production by 500,000 barrels per day, but that Tuesday's discussions made clear the cuts would need to be much larger, between 800,000 and 1 million barrels a day.
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