By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Oil prices fell for a second session Monday on thinking that the European Union’s debt crisis and slowing economic growth in Asia would dent global demand for crude.
The World Bank on Monday cut its growth forecast for the East Asia and the Pacific region, and warned China’s slowdown could get worse and persist longer than many had anticipated. Read: Europe crisis poses major threat to Asia, World Bank says.
Concern about Europe was also in play, with euro-zone finance ministers preparing to meet in Luxembourg. Investors awaited any signs that Spain would ask for rescue funds.
“Economic worries have come to the forefront again,” said Gene McGillian, an analyst with Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn., citing factors including the World Bank’s lowered forecast.
“We have ample supplies in the United States, some uncertainty ahead of the election and the problems in Europe haven’t been solved,” McGillian added.
After a third weekly decline, crude futures for November delivery CLX2 -0.56% fell $1.19, or 1.6%, to $88.69 a barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On Friday, the contract fell 2% to $89.88, down 2.5% for the week and down more than 10% for the year.
“It looks like the market is trying to restart the selloff that drove us to an eight-week low last week. The market is stuck in a range between $88 to $93; on either side of that band, it doesn’t seem to draw any further buying interest,” said McGillian.
In California, regular unleaded gasoline hit a record $4.668 a gallon, according to numbers released Sunday by the motorist group AAA.
Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.
