US & China Have Reasons, Low Oil Prices!

<p>&nbsp;Oil prices plunged to two-week lows in the Asian session after recording two consecutive days of declines due to gloomy Chinese economic sentiment.</p><p><br /></p><p>At the time of writing, Brent crude oil futures were trading bleakly at around $83.40 a barrel after falling nearly 2% on Wednesday.</p><p><br /></p><p>Meanwhile, US WTI oil trading declined at around $79.30 per barrel following a 2.2% loss recorded in the previous session.</p><p><br /></p><p>An unexpected drop in US crude oil supplies last week of 6 million barrels failed to impact trading in the black commodity due to stronger factors from China.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>China's economic uncertainty has put the crude oil market under pressure, raising concerns about slowing demand from one of the world's top oil consumers.</p><p><br /></p><p>This follows a series of recent dismal Chinese economic data, which signal continued weakness in its recovery from Covid-19.</p><p><br /></p><p>In addition, the possibility of a continued increase in US interest rates following the release of the minutes of the latest FOMC meeting also has an impact on the market.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Federal Reserve (Fed) is seen as maintaining its position to bring back inflation, saying there is a significant risk that price pressures will increase.</p>