The downdraft in oil prices showed no sign of abating on Friday. The main international benchmark, Brent crude, fell about 3 percent to about $61.80 barrel, a five-year low. That dip came a day after the American benchmark, West Texas Intermediate crude, fell below the psychologically significant $60 a barrel level in the United States for the first time since 2009. The International Energy Agency added to downward price pressures on Friday by cutting its forecast for global demand for crude oil in 2015. For now, analysts say, there seems to be no safety net for oil prices. “In the very short term prices can go lower; the market is weighted to very bearish sentiment,” Richard Mallinson, an analyst at Energy Aspects, a London-based research firm, said Friday. European stocks fell on Friday, posting their biggest weekly loss since mid-2011 as energy stocks were hurt by the […]

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