What caused the significant fall in crude oil price on Wednesday? There may be more than one reason!
The price of crude oil recorded a relatively sharp fall on Wednesday, defying the ‘prophesies’ of certain investment banks. As of 16:00 GMT, the price of WTI and Brent stood at $80.82 and $82.04 respectively, a fall of more than 3%. The key reasons behind the fall of oil price may be the following: China’s weak economic data for eight successive months The fall of US crude inventories for six successive weeks The tremendous pressure brought upon the OPEC+ members to increase the oil output The flare-ups of the Delta variant – or sub variant – of the Covid-19 in many parts of the world As for China’s economy, the authorities did not hide the fact that its economy continues to slow down, hit by supply chain issues, rising energy costs, power shortages and rising unemployment numbers. China’s manufacturing PMI index fell by 0.4%, from 49.6% in September to 49.2% in October, according to the National Statistics Bureau of Statistics of China; it has been in decline for month