Crude-oil futures were edging slightly higher on Wednesday, with the commodity attempting to recover from a weekly slide induced by concerns that a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus would lead to tighter global lockdowns, hobbling energy demand.
A new strain of COVID-19 identified by researchers in the United Kingdom has set off concern about the possibility of a more infectious variant of the coronavirus moving into the U.S. at a time when cases are at all-time highs.