We're betting on $70 WTI.
S&P Energy ETF (XLE) $84.64 down $1.86.
From Investing.com:
Brent crude oil prices dipped below $80 a barrel on Thursday for the first time in four years amid concerns that waning demand and rising supplies will expand the global oil glut. Analysts say prices could drop even further unless major oil-exporting nations withhold some production.
rent crude, an international benchmark, fell to $78.71 in early-morning trade. It last traded below $80 in September 2010. West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. light crude, was down 90 cents, at $76.28 a barrel.
The dip in Brent “is consistent with our long-held view that the world will soon be awash in oil,” analysts at Capital Economics, a London research firm, said in a Thursday update. “Indeed, global oil prices look set to hit $70 much sooner than we had anticipated.”
A pile of new Chinese economic reports on Thursday helped drive the price decline. China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, saw slower-than-expected growth in industrial output and retail sales for October, and investment growth hit a 13-year low. The sluggish figures reinforced expectations of a slower rise in fuel demand from key emerging economies, Reuters reported.
At the same time, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to keep producing barrels far above demand levels. Kuwaiti Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair said the oil cartel won’t cut its collective output when it meets in Vienna later this month, Bloomberg News reported....MORE
