WTI Settles Below $50 a Barrel on Wednesday

It was a bumpy ride on Wednesday as oil futures continued on a downward spiral despite a larger-than-expected weekly drop in domestic crude supplies, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, November West Texas Intermediate crude shed 44 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $49.98 a barrel. Prices settled below $50 a barrel for the first time since September 19.

December Brent crude, the global benchmark, lost 20 cents, or 0.4%, to end trading at $55.80 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange.

Earlier Wednesday, a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration indicated domestic crude supplies fell by 6 million barrels for the week ending September 29.

Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had forecast a much smaller decrease of 1.5 million barrels. Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported that supplies fell by 4.1 million barrels.

Meanwhile, November natural gas ended at $2.94 per million British thermal units, up 4.5 cents, or 1.6%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.