West Texas Intermediate fell to a five-month low and the discount to Brent widened after comments by Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley added to speculation that the central bank will reduce stimulus. Futures dropped 0.9 percent. The New York Fed chief pointed to payrolls growth as a positive sign in the text of remarks given in Flushing, New York, today. The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee is buying $85 billion of bonds every month to spur growth and has said it plans to slow the purchases when the economy improves. WTI’s discount to Brent ended the day at the widest level in almost eight months. “We dropped about a dollar after Dudley said he was upbeat about the economy,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago . “The good news about the economy will strengthen calls for a tapering […]