Oil Prices Tank on Fears China’s Rate Cuts Herald Demand Weakness

Oil prices were trading down nearly 2% in early-morning trading on Thursday, with markets attempting to digest the impact of lagging Chinese consumption on other positive U.S. inventory reports against the backdrop of another interest rate cut by Beijing.  At 6:50 a.m. ET on Thursday, Brent crude was trading down 1.77% at $80.26, while the U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), was trading down 1.80% at $76.19.  Though this week saw another big U.S. crude inventory draw reported by the Energy Information Administration (EIA),…