•Crude futures extended Tuesday's selling spree during European morning trading on Wednesday head of the release of weekly US stock data later on today. Ongoing fears of an economic slowdown in the US, coupled with expectations for US stock builds and weaker demand as well as bearish technicals and gloomy results from major investment banks saw petroleum futures prices heading south on Tuesday, with losses extended on Wednesday.

•"The continuous selloff is mainly down to fears of an economic slowdown in the US. Adding to that are the anticipated builds in US petroleum stocks, the IEA report showing slightly reduced demand figures and the lack of geopolitical headlines," a London-based broker said.

•Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency Wednesday cut its estimate of world oil demand growth for 2008 to 1.98 million b/d, down 130,000 b/d from its previous forecast. "There is loads of uncertainty in the market...At this point, it is just about going short and staying short," a trader added.

Updated: January 16, 2008