Economic concerns in USA and Europe keep oil prices below US$96

19-Feb-13

Benchmark crude for March delivery dipped to US$95.6 in electronic trading on the Nymex, while Brent crude dipped to US$117.6 on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Market sentiments have been weighed down by last week’s data which showed that US industrial production weakened and Europe remained mired in recession. US factory production slowed in January, mostly because of a big drop in output at car factories. The combined economic output of the EU shrank by 0.6% in Q1 from the previous three-month period. The decline was bigger than the 0.4% drop expected and the steepest fall since 2009.