Commodity traders sitting in front of Bloomberg terminals trading crude products.

Oil prices were lower today as the markets weighed the economic risk and bad economic data. Weighing on prices on Tuesday was Chinese data showing industrial output and retail sales growth undershot forecasts in April, suggesting the world’s second-largest economy lost momentum at the start of the second quarter. However, China’s oil refinery throughput in April rose 18.9%, to the second-highest level on record. “There has been a lot of concern about China’s industrial numbers, but if you look at their actual demand numbers or refinery runs, they’re knocking on the door of breaking records,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group. WTI traded down $.25 to close at $70.86. Brent traded down $.32 to close at $74.91

On mobile? Click here to download the pdf.