Oil prices drop

(Bloomberg) -- Oil prices dropped as a strengthening dollar and mounting lockdowns in Europe blunted the potential impact of crude cargoes backing up outside the blocked Suez Canal.

Futures fell 4.3% in New York on Thursday in the wake of a stronger U.S. dollar, which reduces the appeal of commodities priced in the currency. Work to re-float the massive ship that’s stuck in the canal continued without success.

While the Suez blockage is complicating trade, a long-term realignment of global crude flows has seen westbound shipments from Persian Gulf producers fall, limiting the impact on oil prices. The Suez Canal has “diluted importance as a transit hub for energy,” said Bob Yawger, head of the futures division at Mizuho Securities.