Brent crude dropped for the first time in three days in London after a gauge of factory output in China contracted for a third month. WTI was steady. The European benchmark grade slid as much as 0.4 percent in London. A preliminary China purchasing managers’ index for March from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics dropped to 48.1, lower than the 48.7 median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News . Brent and WTI rose March 21 after Russia completed its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. “It has been clear for twelve months that manufacturing has been slowing in China,” Guy Wolf, global head of market analytics at Marex Spectron Group in London , said by e-mail. “Deflating a credit bubble is extremely hard to achieve in a measured way. The risks remain that it accelerates to the downside.” Brent for May settlement declined as much as 47 cents […]