Oil prices continued their decline as record US inflation and abysmal earnings from Wall Street intensified recession fears. Brent settled down 47 cents to close at $99.10 USD while WTI fell 52 cents to settle at $95.75. Crude has been in decline since early June on escalating fears that the US may be pushed into a recession. “Crude is in free fall as demand data is softer and macro risk factors completely overwhelm the fundamentally tight physical market,” said Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Management. “Risks over the next few weeks look skewed to the downside, keeping even the most convicted bulls in wait-and-see mode.”