Oil's Fall Continues During Broad Commodity Selloff

Drops in the price of oil are at the forefront of commodity market action on Friday morning, following a reported narrowing of the U.S. trade deficit. The U.S. monthly trade deficit was reported to have narrowed in line with expectations in August, shrinking 3.5% to $59.1 billion, just ahead of the consensus expectation of $59.0 billion. However, the ex-petroleum deficit widened to $23.530 billion from July's $18.355 billion. "Declines in both the average price (-3.8%) and quantity (-9.8%) of oil imports more than offset a 1% increase in non-oil imports to reduce total imports by $5.5 billion (2.4%)," wrote Nomura chief economist David Resler of the data. West Texas Intermediate crude oil is currently down $6.04 per barrel to $80.55, even on news that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) called for an... [read full story]