Oil prices dropped more than 5 per cent on Thursday to their lowest in four months, as investors worried about global oil demand following weak data from the US and Asia.
Brent futures fell $4.38, or 5.4 per cent, to $76.80 a barrel by 1:02 p.m. EST (1802 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) shed $4.27, or 5.5 per cent, to $72.39. Both contracts traded at their lowest since July 7.
Both WTI and Brent’s front-month contracts also traded below the prices for the second month, a structure known as contango.
“The mood is negative, the charts are negative,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group. “It’s going to take something to change that mood, and until then people will ride it down until they realize it’s overdone.”
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased to a three-month high last week, suggesting that labor market conditions continued to ease.
The report came after other data that showed US retail sales fell for the…
