NEW YORK — Oil posted its biggest one-day drop in three months as investors worried about another recession.
Crude prices tumbled nearly 6 percent Thursday, outpacing a broad sell-off on Wall Street, where major indexes were down more than 4 percent.
This should be good news for motorists. If oil holds at these lower levels, the drop could be felt within days at gas pumps across America. Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at Oil Price Information Service, said the recent slide in oil could cut between 20 and 35 cents from a gallon of regular over the next month. The national average is currently $3.703 a gallon.
“You could see some sizable declines at the pump,” Rozell said.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery fell $5.30, or 5.8 percent, to settle at $86.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That’s the steepest drop since oil took an 8.7 percent tumble May 5. Oil dropped as low as $86.04 a barrel earlier in the day, its lowest level since February.
Oil has declined for seven straight trading days. It’s down 13 percent since July 26.
In Denver, average unleaded gasoline averaged $3.463 a gallon Thursday, up a tenth of a cent from Wednesday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.
