Brent Futures Drop on Chinese, US Economic Data

摘要

Oil prices ended mixed in choppy trading on Thursday as weaker-than-expected Chinese trade data, higher Opec production and evidence of a strengthening US jobs market muddied the oil demand outlook. China, the world's second largest oil consumer after the US, reported that its exports and imports in April grew at a far slower rate than forecast. Its trade performance that month was also surprisingly weak, and analysts said the government would need to loosen monetary policy to spur expansion or risk missing annual growth targets.