Oil futures settled sharply lower on Tuesday, with prices posting their largest monthly loss since the pandemic officially began in March of 2020. “Crude prices got hit with a one-two punch” from the Moderna MRNA, -3.91% CEO’s concern over the current MRNA vaccines’ effectiveness with the omicron variant of the coronavirus, and after the Federal Reserve briefly sent the dollar higher and brought forward rate hike expectations, said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. January West Texas Intermediate crude CLF22, -5.43% lost $3.77, or 5.4%, to settle at $66.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with prices for the most-active contract down nearly 21% for the month, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
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