Crude-oil futures ended sharply lower on Monday, 13 October 2014 at Nymex extending their slide from last week as positive Chinese trade data and an increase in September crude imports failed to bolster global oil prices.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in November traded at $84.46 a barrel, down $1.36.
November Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $1.43 to $88.78 a barrel.
The U.S. government and U.S. Treasury markets were closed for the Columbus Day holiday on Monday. There were also no major U.S. economic reports due for release. That made for a bit more subdued market place.
There was upbeat economic data coming out of China on Monday. Import prices rose 7% in September, while exports were up 15% in the period. This is good news for raw commodity market bulls, as China is the world's largest importer of raw commodities.
Official customs data showed that China's overall exports and imports in September rose from a year earlier, and topped market expectations, indicating an improvement in the country's economy. China, the world's second-largest consumer of oil, also posted a 7.4% increase in September crude imports from a year earlier and a rise of around 9.5% from August.However, market participants were unconvinced that the numbers indicate a sustained improvement in oil demand, and remained concerned about more price cuts by Middle Eastern oil producers.
Most recently, Iran cut its oil official selling prices to Asia to its lowest level since December 2008, soon after a similar cut by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to multi-year lows.
Among other energy products, Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for November fell 260 points to $2.2315 a gallon, while November diesel traded at $2.5403, 199 points lower.
The U.S. dollar index was solidly lower on Monday, as the greenback bulls are fading a bit after pushing prices to a four-year high last week.
There was no economic data of note released today and tomorrow's session will also be quiet on the economic front.