oil futures finished lower on tuesday pulling back from recent gains that lifted prices to their highest level in two months with weakness in the us economy prompting traders to rethink their energy demand expectations prices for oil have seen support since the start of the year on continued optimism over the demand outlook from china after the country dropped covid restrictions naturalgas futures meanwhile settled lower after posting a gain of more than 6 a day earlier on forecasts for colder us weather oil prices declined on uncertainty about how much of a demand boost well see and concerns over a weakening us economy constrains the upside said michael hewson chief market analyst at cmc markets uk with the latest pmi numbers in europe and the uk showing signs of weakness despite lower energy prices some doubt is creeping in around any sort of rebound in economic activity he said in market commentary there have also been worries about weakness in the us that could hurt oil demand on tuesday an sp survey showed that us businesses contracted again in january as demand for goods and services fell for the fourth month in a row the survey did show some signs of modest improvement however the sp global flash us services sector index rose to a threemonth high of 466 from 447 in december the service side of the economy employs most americans any number below 50 suggests a contracting economy crudeoil prices saw a mixed finish monday with wti losing ground as brent extended its winning streak to a third session expectations for a pickup in crude demand from china have served to support crude since a dip to start the year on feb 5 the european union will impose a ban on imports of russiarefined petroleum products and a price cap on russian oil products will also take effect that follows an eu embargo and g7 price cap on russian seaborne oil last month a key question is whether these measures are already lowering or will further lower russian oil production said stephen innes managing partner at spi asset management in a market update meanwhile the opec joint ministerial monitoring committee jmmc which reviews the oil market is expected to meet on feb 1 the next full meeting of members of the policysetting organization of the petroleum exporting countries and their allies is scheduled for june the jmmc is expected to endorse the producers groups current output policy and hope that chinese demand will balance out worries over inflation and global economic slowdown the kansas city energy at stonex wrote in a tuesday report the us will get a weekly update on petroleum supplies from the energy information administration on wednesday on average analysts expect the report to show supply declines of 24 million barrels for crude 100000 barrels for gasoline and 16 million barrels for distillates according to a survey conducted by sp global commodity insights its the second week in a row with no release of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve but at the same time refinery maintenance could lead to an increase in crude oil supply phil flynn senior market analyst at the price futures group told marketwatch theres an expectation that we could see an increase in supply in the cushing okla delivery point he said however oil products are still very tight and the focus will be on both gasoline and diesel supplies natural gas has rebounded this week after a sharp slump to begin the year amid unseasonably warm temperatures across much of the us still it remains down more than 20 so far in january after a selloff that left the commodity deeply oversold and vulnerable to a shortcovering rally wrote analysts at sevens report research looking ahead more volatile trade is likely with the market susceptible to squeezy rallies but the current trend is decidedly bearish right now with a break below 300 a distinct possibility in the months ahead they wrote