Oil Slides With Broader Market Selloff Adding to Demand Concerns By Bloomberg – Investing.com

Oil Slides With Broader Market Selloff Adding to Demand Concerns By Bloomberg – Investing.com

© Bloomberg. Offshore oil platform. Photographer: Tim Rue

(Bloomberg) -- Oil slumped the most in two weeks alongside a broader market rout as a resurgent virus in some of the world's top oil importers highlighted the uneven road to recovery.

West Texas Intermediate fell 1.5% to the lowest in a week as the posted its first back-to-back decline since late March. The rampant virus spread in countries such as India is casting a shadow on optimism over the global economic rebound. Annual crude imports in the Asian country fell for the first fiscal year since the late 1990s with refiners cutting run-rates.

“We've seen risk appetite reverse,” said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities. “Variants are wreaking havoc on some economies, and it's uncertain how the whole demand picture will evolve.”

Still, the market is a far cry from where it was a year ago today, when an unprecedented crisis saw U.S. benchmark crude futures closing at negative $37.63 a barrel. The historic plunge came as lockdowns savaged demand and key producers Saudi Arabia and Russia flooded the market in a price war. A restoration of OPEC+ unity marked by deep supply cuts, as well as vaccine distribution around the