Oil Stabilizes At $50 After Christmas Crash

Crude oil prices rose on Boxing Day after an extensive decline that saw West Texas Intermediate creep close to US$40 and Brent briefly fall below US$50 a barrel. Today at 09:35 AM ET, the international benchmark had recovered slightly, rising 1.34 percent to US$51.45 a barrel, after shedding as much as 6.2 percent in the previous trading session to close at US$50.47 a barrel, Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, WTI recouped some of the losses suffered over the last few days, trading up 2.61 percent at US$43.64 a barrel at the time of writing, after losing 6.7 percent and closing at US$42.53 a barrel in the last session.

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to increase interest rates one more time before the end of 2018 certainly affected the price of WTI as it raised borrowing costs across industries. However, there is a wider worry among market players in oil and it concerns the global economy. With most authorities forecasting a slowdown in its growth next year, the concern about how crude oil demand will be faring in 2019 is only to be expected.