The price of oil just dived below $50 for the first time in 2017

LONDON — The price of West Texas Intermediate oil, the key US benchmark, has dropped below $50 per barrel for the first time since December 2016 on Thursday, extending big losses seen on Wednesday.

As of 10.25 a.m. GMT (5.25 a.m. ET) WTI crude has fallen roughly 1.6% on the day to trade at $49.48, after a sharp decline just before 10.10 a.m. The last time WTI traded at lower than $50 per barrel was on December 15 last year.

The fall comes after the latest inventory data from the Department of Energy on Wednesday showed supplies rose by 8.21 million barrels to 528.4 million barrels. That’s the highest since record keeping began in 1982, according to Bloomberg. That initially pushed oil prices down 5% on Wednesday evening, but the data appears still to be impacting market sentiment.

Here is the chart:Investing.com