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TORONTO – A sharp plunge in oil prices Friday cascaded across the energy sector and into the wider market to push North American indexes into the red. The drop of US$4.21 or 8.3 per cent in the crude price to US$50.42 — its lowest level in over a year — came after Saudi Arabia said Friday it had hit record production. The Saudi announcement added to fears in the energy market after U.S. crude inventories rose earlier this week and indications out of Europe and elsewhere pointed to a potential slowing of global growth. "All three of these have weighed quite dramatically on crude oil prices this week," said Candice Bangsund, portfolio manager for Fiera Capital. "The entire week we’ve had a lot of investor concerns regarding a renewed global supply glut in the marketplace, whether it’s Wednesday’s increase in U.S. stockpiles, which rose for the ninth consecutive week, as well as obviously ongoing concerns about global demand." The fall in crude prices weighed on markets in general, said Bangsund. "That’s spilled over into the entire marketplace, so not just the energy space, but the commodity space in general, and it’s really just stoked a risk-off sentiment in the […]
