Oil remained lower on Tuesday after declining by 0.8% during the previous session. West Texas Intermediate traded near $83 per barrel while the dollar held strong after closing on Monday at its highest level since June 7 following a three-day rise.
This decline came as data on Tuesday showed further weakness in China’s economy, with the country’s industrial output, retail sales, and fixed-asset investment also failing to meet expectations, thereby further crippling the world’s largest crude importer. Charu Chanana, a market strategist at Saxo Capital Markets Pte. maintains that this weakness in Chinese data signals “more demand pressures.” She expects global benchmark Brent to remain between $80 and $90 per barrel.
Prior to the recent slump, oil had been on a constant rise since late June after OPEC+ members Saudi Arabia and Russia announced surprise output cuts, helping to raise prices and cut inventories.