Oil futures post back-to-back losses on the expiration day for September WTI futures

Oil futures settled lower for a second session on Tuesday, “having fluctuated quite a lot so far this month, only to trade slightly below where it started,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA. “There’s always been a risk of U.S. rates remaining higher for longer, while China’s recovery has been sluggish for months, as has their response to it,” he said. “We need to see a significant change in the trend of the data to seriously change the outlook for crude and we haven’t seen that.” West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery
CLU23,
-0.58%
declined by 37 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $80.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on the contract’s expiration day. October WTI crude
CLV23,
-0.41%,
which is now the front month, settled at $79.64, down 48 cents, or 0.6%.