WTI crude tumbled below the critical $60 per barrel mark for the first time since May, with front-month futures settling at $58.90 per barrel for a steep 4.24% loss on Friday, October 10. The international benchmark, Brent, followed suit, closing down 3.82% at $62.73 per barrel. This decisive collapse was driven by a powerful one-two punch of bearish news. First, the successful progress toward an Israel-Gaza ceasefire deal quickly erased a significant portion of the geopolitical risk premium that had supported prices.
Simultaneously, a sharp escalation in China-U.S. trade tensions—triggered by President Trump's threats of new, massive tariffs on Chinese imports and Beijing's reciprocal port fees and rare earth curbs—revived intense fears that a global trade war would severely curtail world economic growth and, consequently, crush oil demand.
Oilprice