Oil Action: WTI crude.

Oil Action: WTI crude remains heavy, trading to $52.44 lows ahead of the N.Y. open, down from Asian session highs of $53.42. The contract has held above Monday's four-month low of $52.11, though a break under $52.00 is expected to bring fresh selling to bear. Despite sanction on Iran and Venezuela, production outages in Libya, and ongoing OPEC+ supply cuts, oil prices are down about 13% over the past two-weeks. The U.S./China trade war, which appears to have no end in sight, along with prospects for a second front of trade friction between the U.S. and Mexico have combined to seriously dent global growth expectations, and hence oil demand going forward. Under Monday's low, next support comes at the February 11 base of $51.23.