Oil prices fall after weaker than expected US and China data

Brent crude dropped as low as $92.78 a barrel as gloomy reports from the world’s two leading economies added to worries that a slowdown in global growth will hit industrial and consumer demand. WTI slipped to $86.82, its lowest level since before Russia invaded Ukraine.  This came after Chinese economic data showed that retail sales and industrial production rose less year on year in July than Economists had forecast.  The oil markets struggle as weak macro data continues to put downward pressure on them, with this negative Chinese data coming immediately after poor consumer sentiment figures in Europe.