Oil dives nearly 5% to seven-month low on surprise U.S. stock build, trade war - Reuters

Oil dives nearly 5% to seven-month low on surprise U.S. stock build, trade war - Reuters:

Oil prices tumbled more than 4.5% on Wednesday to a seven-month low, extending recent heavy losses following a surprise build in U.S. crude stockpiles and fears that demand will shrink due to Washington’s escalating trade war with Beijing.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled down $2.71, or 4.6%, at $56.23 a barrel, the lowest close since early January. Prices have lost 24.5% since their 2019 peak in April.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 finished $2.54, or 4.7%, lower at $51.09.

Oil prices fell early in the session on worries about the trade war, then extended losses after government data showed a build of 2.4 million barrels in U.S. crude stockpiles last week, instead of the 2.8 million-barrel draw analysts had expected.