Crude oil prices eased toward $102 a barrel Friday morning, and natural gas continued to fall amid signs that the worst of winter is over for most of the U.S.
This week's brutal cold is expected to give way over the weekend, reducing the need for heating fuels.
Crude oil eased 13 cents to $102.27 a barrel, down from near $103 late last night.
Natural gas future were down a half a percent to $4.48 per million btu. Prices were above $5 at the start of the week.
Markets eyed the release of U.S. GDP data, due at 8:30 am ET.
Economists expect fourth quarter GDP growth to be downwardly revised to 2.5 percent from the advance estimate of 3.2 percent. Rough winter weather is thought to have caused the slowdown.
Speaking in testimony to the Senate banking committee in Washington, Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Thursday said the central bank will probably continue tapering its asset purchases despite the lackluster fourth quarter growth.
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Market Analysis
May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.