Crude oil futures fell further in mid-morning trade in Asia Dec. 23 as bearish data from the American Petroleum Institute took the market by surprise, and as US President Donald Trump rejected a Congress-approved $900 billion stimulus bill. At 10:49 am Singapore time (0249 GMT), the ICE Brent February contract was down 78 cents/b (1.56%) from the Dec. 22 settle at $49.30/b, while the February NYMEX light sweet crude contract was down 75 cents/b (1.60%) at $46.27/b. The markers closed down 1.63% and 1.98% respectively on Dec. 22. The latest fall in crude prices came as the API reported an unexpected 2.7 million-barrel build in US crude inventories for the week to Dec. 18. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had been expecting a 4.7 million-barrel decline. The API data also indicated little […]