Yahoo Finance Oil Prices Drop Amid Slowing Economic Growth
Investing.com - Oil prices trader lower on Monday as slowing economic growth weighed on markets.
Brent Oil Futures for October delivery fell 0.38% to $71.58 per barrel at 12:43AM ET (04:43 GMT), while Crude Oil WTI Futures for October delivery also declined to $64.99 a barrel, down by 0.35%.
"Disappointing industrial data out of China along with concerns over emerging market economies centered on Turkey weighed on commodities," Edward Bell of Emirates NBD bank said in a note on Sunday.
China reported last week that industrial output grew slower than expected in July, while retail sales and fixed-asset investments also missed estimates. Analysts believe an escalating trade dispute with the U.S. and recent tightening policies are likely to impact the outlook of China’s economy and that it may be at risk of a sharper slowdown than expected.
“The economy is slowing down as the result of the relatively tight policies in the past six quarters,” said Gene Ma, chief China economist at the Institute of International Finance in Washington.
Meanwhile, Iran told OPEC on Sunday that no member countries should take over others’ share of oil exports.
The U.S. government announced last week financial sanctions against Iran which, from November, will also target the country's petroleum sector.
In response, Iran said that the government has been looking for solutions to sell and transfer its revenues in spite of the upcoming sanctions.
Iran produced around 3.65 million barrels per day of crude in July, making it the third biggest producer within the OPEC, behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Anas Alhajji, energy economist, said, “[Oil] prices declined due to higher inventories, trade tension, concerns on China’s demand, and depreciation of currencies in emerging market economies and others.”
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