By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - Oil prices fell 3% on Tuesday, plunging for a second day in a row as the investor stampede from risk markets showed no signs of slowing amid the growing coronavirus contagion.
Brent, the London-traded global benchmark for crude, settled down $1.51, or 2.7%, at $54.26 per barrel.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude benchmark, fell $1.53, or 3%, to settle at $49.90 per barrel, its first close below the $50 mark since Feb 11.
“Oil prices are naturally feeling the full wrath of the coronavirus spread, with Brent now not trading too far from its February lows and momentum not its friend,” said Craig Erlam, analyst at New York-based OANDA. “(The) $54 (level) is looking vulnerable.”
Brent fell to an intraday low of $54.12, with technical analysts expecting the global crude benchmark to break to $53 levels by Wednesday, en route to the test of the bigger $50 support.
Oil prices have lost a total of more than 7% over the past two sessions, threatening to return to a bear market they had crawled out of just a week ago.
Tuesday’s slump came as stocks on Wall Street headed for another major down day following the worst one-day crash in two years on the Dow and S&P on Monday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a spread of Covid-19 in the U.S. was "inevitable" and warned Americans to prepare for disruptions in their daily lives, leading another mass selling of stocks and buying of bonds.