Yahoo Finance 
Crude oil is collapsing
Crude oil is falling to new lows.
On Monday in New York, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell more than 4% and slipped below $45 per barrel, a level it hasn't touched since March.
Brent crude oil, the international benchmark that joined WTI in a bear market last week, dropped more than 4%, below $50 per barrel for the first time since January.
The declines come after an ugly month across commodities. Specifically, in July, oil prices fell 21% in the worst monthly decline since October 2008.
It continues to be a story of oversupply. On Friday, a Reuters survey showed that the 12-member oil cartel OPEC pushed production to the highest monthly level in recent history.
Additionally, we learned this morning that Chinese manufacturing activity fell to a two-year low, with the official PMI gauge dropping to 50.0. This adds to concern that demand from the world's second-largest oil consumer would slow – a worry that was highlighted in the bigger commodities slump last month.
Here's a chart showing the slump in WTI on Monday:
(Finviz)
And here's Brent:
(Finviz)
More From Business Insider
