By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - Oil prices tumbled for a second-straight day on Thursday, hitting a near five-month low, as the market reeled from fears of another global surge in coronavirus cases and a surprisingly large weekly build in U.S. crude stockpiles reported the previous day.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, the leading indicator for U.S. crude prices, tumbled to a session low of $34.93 per barrel, a bottom not seen since mid-June. It recovered to $36.08 by 11:25 AM ET (15:25 GMT), down $1.31, or 3.5% on the day.
London-traded Brent, the global benchmark for oil, sunk to 37.26, before pulling back to trade $1.34, or 3.4%, down at $38.30.
Both WTI and Brent fell about 5% or more on Wednesday as Germany and France returned to lockdowns to stop a swell of Covid-19 infections.
The market was also spooked by the by the Energy Information Administration’s reporting of a 4.3-million barrel rise in crude stockpiles for the week ended Oct. 23, against expectations for an increase of 1.23 million barrels.
The crude build reinforced concerns about depleting demand for fuel despite falling gasoline and distillates inventories.