Oil prices slumped more than 5% on Thursday, leaving them poised to record their biggest weekly fall this year. The decline reflects a cocktail of factors including disappointing American manufacturing data, rising US shale production, softer demand from refineries, and concerns about the US-China trade war’s impact on global economic demand.
“The dangerous combination of surging US crude inventories, weak demand from refineries and rising concerns over US-China trade tensions impacting economic health is creating a recipe for disaster in oil markets,” said Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM.