Oil Closes Below $50 for First Time in a Year as Glut Fears Grow - Bloomberg

Oil Closes Below $50 for First Time in a Year as Glut Fears Grow - Bloomberg:

OPEC has its work cut out to persuade the market that its output caps will stabilize oil prices -- and U.S. producers aren’t helping.

Crude settled below $50 a barrel in New York on Monday for the first time in more than a year and continued falling in after-hours trading. The slide began after data provider Genscape Inc. was said to report growing inventories at the biggest American storage hub and intensified as the U.S. Energy Department forecast higher output in the country’s shale plays.

Oil prices are on track for a third straight monthly decline despite efforts by OPEC, Russia and other major exporters to halt the slide. Crude had slunk near $50 in recent weeks but always rebounded. Crossing the threshold was “significant," said Michael Loewen, a commodities strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto.