Oil prices dip, global shares mixed amid thin holiday trading

During the weekend, the OPEC+ group of eight nations announced it will raise its output of oil by 411,000 barrels per day as of June 1, stepping up production increases.

Global shares were mixed in holiday-thinned trading Monday, while oil prices fell after the OPEC+ group of oil producing nations said it plans to boost output.

Markets were closed in Britain and much of Asia.

The future for the S&P 500 slid 0.6 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5 per cent.

Germany’s DAX gained 0.4 per cent to 23,181.61 and the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.4 per cent to 7,737.21.

U.S. benchmark crude oil fell as much as four per cent early in the day. By late Monday in Asia it had shed US$1.15 or 2 per cent to US$57.14 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost US$1.14 to US$60.15 per barrel.

During the weekend, the OPEC+ group of eight nations announced it will raise its output by 411,000 barrels per day as of June 1, stepping up production increases.

The group said strong fundamentals were behind the decision, though analysts also speculated that it might reflect a desire to curry favor with U.S. President Donald Trump before he makes a visit to the Middle East later this month.

Prices have fallen nearly 20 per cent in the past three months as traders have factored in the likely impact of Trump’s trade policies on the global economy. Trump has made delivering lower gas prices one of his talking points.