Historic three-day streak comes to abrupt halt, as crude falls by 7%

WTI crude fell below $46 on Tues, while brent crude dipped under $50

Investing.com -- U.S. crude futures fell sharply by more than 7% on Tuesday halting a historic three-day rout, as energy traders locked into profits from one of the strongest rallies in more than two decades.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for October delivery traded in a broad range between $45.24 and $48.85 a barrel, before settling at $45.42, down 3.77 or 7.65% on the session. Previously, Texas Long Sweet futures surged approximately 25% over the prior three sessions amid speculation that Venezuela in collaboration with Russia could push OPEC to stage an emergency meeting to address crashing oil prices in the global energy markets. U.S. crude futures have suffered two prolonged downturns over the last 12 months pushing prices below $39 a barrel – levels not seen since the height of the Financial Crisis.

Still, U.S. crude futures soared above $49 a barrel on Monday, its highest level since July 30 after jumping nearly 10% on the session.

On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), brent crude for October delivery wavered between $49.74 and $53.47 a barrel, before closing at $49.59, down 4.55 or 8.34% on the session. In August, investors continued a massive exodus from long positions in brent futures -- capping one of the highest three-month stretches on record, according to data from the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission. On Monday, brent prices spiked over $53 a barrel, also reaching its highest level in more than a month.

The spread between the international and U.S. domestic benchmarks stood at $4.17, below Monday's level of $4.92 at the close.

Energy traders await the release of a weekly U.S. crude inventory report by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday after the market's close for further indications on the supply-demand balance in domestic energy markets. Investors expect to see draws in oil and gas inventories from last week, after crude stockpiles fell by 5.5 million for the week ending on August 19.

Elsewhere, investors expressed mounting concerns of potential spillover effects from persisting weakness in the Chinese economy after its official manufacturing purchasing index (PMI) slumped to a three-year low in August. The Caixin China PMI fell to 49.7 in August, down slightly from a reading of 50 in July. Any reading below 50 typically provides an indication that the sector is on the verge of suffering a recession.

China is the world's second-largest importer of oil behind the U.S. The Asian nation imports more than 5.65 million barrels of crude oil per day, according to the latest estimates from the CIA World Factbook, more than Germany, Italy and France combined.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, fell to an intraday low of 95.21 before rebounding slightly to 95.36 in U.S. afternoon trading. The index was on pace for its third consecutive losing session.

Dollar-denominated commodities such as crude become more expensive for foreign purchasers when the dollar appreciates.