Oil price dropping by 10% in a week: has the fear of recession taken its toll on it?
The price of crude oil went down more than 10% this week, perhaps due to the fears over recessions that could sweep over the top global economies in the coming months, if confirmed by the forthcoming GDP figures for the Q2, the second quarter. Since two successive quarterly contractions spell the much-dreaded word, recession, crude oil markets appeared to have exercised caution, emulating other major markets. In addition, the threats by the Biden administration against major oil companies over hefty profits at the expense of the impact on the economy and his planned visit to Saudi Arabia in July may have played some role in the anxieties that prevail in the markets at present. With the cost of living on a steady upward march, the Western governments failed to inhibit the trend by adopting a catalogue of measures, ranging from duty cuts on fuels to offering subsidies to beleaguered households - all to no avail. Although the fluctuations of the US crude stocks that usually used to reli