WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices slumped on Monday amid concerns over demand, though prices recovered some lost ground in reaction to positive manufacturing data from China and the euro zone.
Benchmark Brent crude fell 2.2 percent to $37.11 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were down 2.7 percent at $34.81.
Both contracts fell nearly 6 percent in early trade to reach their lowest levels since May amid worries that widening coronavirus lockdowns in Europe will weaken fuel demand.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced over the weekend that a one-month lockdown across England would start on Thursday to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
After a massive and sudden surge in Covid-19 cases, Belgium, France and Germany are also experiencing their own second lockdowns.
Goldman Sachs said it expects the euro area's real gross domestic product (GDP) to shrink 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter, a sharp reversal from its earlier projection of 2.2 percent, assuming that the new restrictions will last for three months.
The U.S. investment bank cut U.K. GDP growth forecasts to minus 2.4 percent from a 3.6 percent expansion projected earlier.
Rising supplies from Libya and Iraq as well as uncertainty surrounding the outcome of Tuesday's presidential election in the United States also weighed on oil prices.
OPEC+ is scheduled to hold a policy meeting on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, with some analysts expecting it to delay plans to ramp up output.
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