In The News
Oil plunges on N. Korean bomb news, fears China economy faltering; oil lowest since Feb. ‘09
Oil prices plunged along with U.S. stocks Wednesday on news that North Korea had supposedly set off a hydrogen bomb and China's service industry slipped to a 17-month low, renewing fears that the massive oil-consuming nation's economy was stumbling.
Brent crude, a benchmark for international oil prices, fell $1.81 or 5 percent, to $34.61 a barrel in London while U.S. benchmark crude sank $1.58 or 4.4 percent, to $34.39 a barrel in New York, the lowest price for U.S. crude since February 2009, The Associated Press reported.
The price of wholesale gasoline dropped 6.6 percent after the federal government said gas inventories had climbed by 10.6 million barrels last week and the price of heating oil fell 3.6 percent.
North Korea's government announced it had set off its first successful test of a hydrogen bomb, a claim that was met with global skepticism. The country has set off several nuclear devices but has not shown the capability to make a hydrogen bomb.
Some analysts, meanwhile, fear that China's economy will collapse, while others say the country is merely working on making the country's economy less reliant on trade and investment and focusing more on more self-sustaining private consumption and services and has only hit a "rough spot" in the transition.
It's no secret, however, that China has cut down its once massive consumption of oil and oil products.
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