Crude oil prices were trading in the 70-73 dollars band in the first two weeks of this month, due to no-flow of negative data, and also the reducing inventory levels in US and Europe. But in the last one week, the prices have been under pressure due to flow of some strong negative data.
The continuing pressure on US housing market and the possibility of a credit rating downgrade for California state, were enough to pull the crude price below 70 dollars. Then came the downward revision in the global GDP forecast by IMF, two days back, which has really pushed the panic button across commodities and stocks.
Crude oil also suffered badly and is now trading at around 67 dollars.