Oil fell more than $4 a barrel on Wednesday, with Brent suffering its biggest percentage loss in the first two trading sessions of the year since 1991, as demand concerns linked to the global economy and rising cases of Covid-19 in China crushing commodity prices.
Brent futures closed at $77.84 a barrel after falling $4.26, or 5.2%. US crude oil closed at $72.84 a barrel after falling $4.09, or 5.3%.
Brent fell about 9.4%, its biggest two-day loss early in the year since January 1991, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon.
“Crude oil is trading lower on concerns about Covid-19 in China and the Fed forcing a global recession… both require doomsday events,” said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York.
Data from China showed that while no new variants of the coronavirus were found there, the country underrepresented how many people died in its recent fast-spreading outbreak, World Health Organization officials said.
The state of the global economy and central bank rate hikes also weighed on oil prices.
US manufacturing contracted further in December, falling for the second straight month to 48.4 from 49.0 in November, the weakest reading since May 2020, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said.
At the same time, a US Department of Labor survey showed job openings fell by 54,000 to 10.458 million on the last day of November, raising concerns that the Federal Reserve would use the tight job market as a reason to keep rates lower. high for longer.
Source: CNN Brasil
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