Morgan Stanley Slashes Oil Price Forecast On Omicron Fears

The oil market expects that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus could dampen oil demand in coming weeks, Morgan Stanley said on Monday, slashing its Brent price forecast for the first quarter of 2022 to $82.50 a barrel from $95 per barrel expected earlier. Oil prices plummeted by more than 11 percent on Friday amid fears that the newly detected heavily mutated Omicron COVID variant could prompt more restrictions and lockdowns globally and slow oil consumption. Early on Monday, both benchmarks were up by 5 percent, with Brent at over $75 and…