Oil Prices Stabilized After Falling To Two-Month Lows Yesterday

Oil prices held steady, keeping US crude at its lowest level in two months recorded on Wednesday, after US inventories rose at the fastest pace since May, and continued concerns about the growth of the US economy after weak data.

Markets were filled with worrying data from September at the beginning of the week, with each new release compounding fears of mounting cracks in the global economy.

Global manufacturing activity fell for the fifth consecutive month in September, the longest contraction since 2002. Some automakers posted double-digit percentage declines in car sales - Toyota said its annual sales fell 16.5 per cent; 17.6 percent; Honda's numbers fell 14.1 percent.

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund warned that the global economic slowdown may be more severe than previously expected. "We see the global economy going through a gradual and simultaneous slowdown," David Lipton, the IMF's first deputy managing director, said in Berlin on Tuesday. "Unless trade tensions are defused, it is extremely difficult to see the prevailing macroeconomic instruments address the impact of escalating trade difficulties, so it is very important to get rid of them."

Meanwhile, the WTO lowered its forecast for this year's trade growth to 1.2 percent, down significantly from 2.6 percent in April.

But markets were particularly upbeat due to news that US manufacturing fell badly in September, falling to 47.8 in the Institute for Supply Management's laboratories index, the worst reading since June 2009. For much of this year, the US economy continued to emerge healthily. So good that the slowdown became visible in China and most of Europe.
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Oil Contract Trading

• Brent crude futures settled at $ 57.55 a barrel, at 08:52 am Mecca time, after falling Wednesday by 2%.
• US crude futures were also flat at $ 52.65 a barrel, remaining at their lowest level since August 8, after losing about 10% in seven consecutive trading sessions until yesterday.