The global benchmark Brent crude oil price index slipped below $50 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time in five years, continuing the dramatic plunge that has seen oil prices halved since last June. Stock markets in oil-rich countries keep tumbling, while some analysts interpret the fall — which has brought a windfall to Americans at the fuel pump — as signaling an imminent financial crisis and potential economic slowdown. While not easily explained by a single cause, the price cut is widely believed to reflect slackening economic growth and weakening demand from major consumers such as China coupled with an increase in supply due to booming U.S. shale production. Analysts expect the downward trend to continue unless the world’s major producers, especially the Gulf state members of OPEC, move to cut their output in order to stabilize prices — an option they’ve avoided for now. In the […]