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There's been a stealth drop in oil prices
The markets have been preoccupied with a flurry of political headlines over the past few months such as the Brexit and the US presidential election.
But in the background of all this, there has been a stealth slump in oil prices.
Both West Texas Intermediate crude and Brent crude prices are at levels that were most recently seen around April's meeting of major oil producers in Doha, Qatar.
WTI crude prices have fallen nearly 18% since their early-June peak of about $51.23 a barrel. Brent prices have dropped by about 16% over the same time period. A drop of over 20% is considered to be a bear market.
A few months ago, around May, analysts attributed the surge in oil prices to various production outages including attacks on infrastructure by the Niger Delta Avengers and the wildfires in Canada.
But here's where oil prices were as of 8:31 a.m. ET on Thursday. WTI crude is trading at about $42.09 a barrel:
(Investing.com)
And Brent crude is trading at about $44.05 a barrel:
(Investing.com)
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