Posted on 01/07/2016 4:21:25 AM PST by expat_panama
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil slid below $33 a barrel on Thursday to levels not seen in more than a decade, as a tumble in Chinese equities rattled investors already concerned by near-record production and massive stockpiles of unwanted crude and refined products.
The price of oil has shed around 70 percent since the current downturn began in June 2014, causing pain to oil companies and governments that rely heavily on crude revenues.
China let the yuan slip on Thursday, sending regional currencies and stock markets globally tumbling as the offshore yuan fell to its lowest since trading started in 2010.
China's stock markets were suspended less than half an hour after opening, the second emergency suspension this week.
"Negative sentiment is hurting demand expectations, growth is easing in China and there is a spillover from the inventory build in (U.S.) gasoline stocks from yesterday and this is reflected in prices," said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam.
Brent fell more than 5 percent, or about $2 per barrel, to a low of $32.16, a level not seen since April 2004. It had recovered to $33.45 by 1043 GMT.
U.S. crude futures dropped more than 5 percent to a low of $32.10 per barrel, the lowest since late 2003, before bouncing slightly to $32.97.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
The Dow finishes up 50 pts....
Got my hand on the 'sell' lever already...
Defining 'downturn' these days is becoming increasingly problematic what w/ all the data skepticism we've been having. Like, tomorrow they announce the current [snort] unemployment rate...
The airlines are probably singing and putting on fuel futures like crazy. Going to be some gaudy earnings reports from the civil aviation sector this year.
Oil is down and gold is up.
My memory is that in January, 2009 crude was in the $32 and change range and the national average for regular was around $1.60.
--and what's that going to mean for gas prices to come? The two prices pretty much track together but the Fed says that back in '03 L.A regular was down to the $1 to $1.50/gal range compared to today's $1.50+. My guess is that there's a lot more other things (labor, machinery) in gas prices that oil isn't affected by.
Gas dropped to $1.49 earlier this week at a couple of stations in nw Arkansas. Today it is slightly higher - $1.51.
Haven’t seen those kinds of prices in years. There was a major dip from over $4 to $1.45 in late 2008.
huh, that means we’re down to 2003 prices w/ gasoline as well as oil. imho this points to blatant absurdity of the Fed’s rate hike last month.
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