Oil Falls, Caps Biggest Quarterly Slump Since 2008 on Bets Demand to Drop - Bloomberg

Oil capped the largest quarterly drop since the 2008 financial crisis by tumbling to a one-year low as signs of slowing growth in China, the U.S. and Germany heightened concern that fuel demand will weaken.

Futures dropped 3.6 percent after China’s purchasing managers’ index fell for a third month while German retail sales declined in August and U.S. consumer spending slowed. Prices tumbled 17 percent from the end of June, the biggest quarterly decline since the 56 percent plunge during the last three months of 2008.

“The Chinese PMI and the German retail sales numbers are what started the ball rolling down and then personal income pushed it further,” said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. “We’ve had some pretty disappointing economic data.”

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