US oil prices dived again yesterday, threatening to dip below $40 a barrel for the first time since the financial crisis and notching their longest weekly losing streak since 1986, as a drop in Chinese manufacturing rattled global markets.
World stock and currency markets joined an extended rout across raw materials this week, a slump accelerated yesterday by data showing activity in China’s factory sector shrank at its fastest pace in almost 6-1/2 years in August.
With deepening gloom over demand growth from the world’s second-biggest oil user, and expectations for a significant build-up in surplus oil stocks this autumn, dealers said most oil traders were unwilling to fight the tide.
“The market is stuck in a relentless downtrend,” said Robin Bieber, a director at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates. U.S. October crude fell $1.02, or 2.5 percent, to $40.29 a barrel, having touched a new 6-1/2-year low of $40.11 a barrel earlier. Front-month U.S. crude has fallen 33 percent over eight consecutive weeks of losses, the longest such losing streak since 1986.
Brent oil fell $1.28, or 2.75 percent, to $45.33 a barrel, threatening to break below $45 a barrel for the first time since March 2009. The U.S. S&P .SPX fell about 2 percent on Friday and is down over 4 percent for the week, its worst weekly decline in at least three years. The dollar .DXY also fell, lending a small measure of support to oil prices but also suggesting a lowering of expectations of a U.S. interest rate hike in September.
No comments:
Post a Comment