Oil Holds Biggest Weekly Drop Since July as U.S., China Meet

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Serene Cheong

07 Oct 2019, 07:45 AM IST

Oil Holds Biggest Weekly Drop Since July as U.S., China Meet

Crude oil is displayed inside a bottle on the North Slope in Alaska, U.S. (Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Oil held its biggest weekly decline since July ahead of U.S.-China trade talks, as a string of disappointing data sparks fears of an economic slowdown.

The New York-traded futures were 0.2% lower Monday, after falling 5.5% last week. Chinese officials are signaling they’re increasingly reluctant to agree to a broad trade deal pursued by President Donald Trump. Last week, a key measure of American service-industry activity dropped to the lowest in three years, while an employment gauge registered its weakest reading in more than five years.

Drivers:
With the end of the summer-driving period taking away a key factor supporting demand, hedge fund bets on a crude price rally in New York and London have plunged to the lowest in eight months, data released Friday show. California’s leaders may be eager to move away from oil and gas development in the state, but the Trump administration has different ideas. On Friday, the Interior Department approved a plan to open some 722,000 acres of Central and Northern California to new oil and gas drilling.

Drivers:

With the end of the summer-driving period taking away a key factor supporting demand, hedge fund bets on a crude price rally in New York and London have plunged to the lowest in eight months, data released Friday show.
California’s leaders may be eager to move away from oil and gas development in the state, but the Trump administration has different ideas. On Friday, the Interior Department approved a plan to open some 722,000 acres of Central and Northern California to new oil and gas drilling.

Prices:
West Texas Intermediate for November delivery was 7 cents lower at $52.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 7:36 a.m. in Singapore Brent for December settlement was down 11 cents to $58.26 on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange

To contact the reporter on this story: Serene Cheong in Singapore at scheong20@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net, Aaron Clark