• Crude oil prices tumble on market jitters and inventories. 
• Stocks indexes move sharply lower on banking concerns. 
• WTI heads for the lowest close since December 2021. 

Crude oil prices are falling sharply again on Wednesday as markets continue to be shaken by banking-industry concerns. Adding to the downside, the latest EIA weekly reports showed US inventories rose last week. 

WTI in free fall

As of writing, WTI is trading at $67.40, at the lowest level since December 2021, down 5.45% for the day. Since the beginning of the week, it lost 11.5%. 

Risk aversion is driving commodities and shares sharply lower on Wednesday. Concerns about the health of Credit Suisse spread fear across financial markets.

Adding weight to Crude Oil prices, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) informed that crude inventories rose by 1.55 million barrels last week, above expectations. It was the eleventh increase in inventories out of the past 12 weeks. 

Technical factors contribute to the sharp decline in WTI. The price broke on Tuesday below the critical $73.00 support and on Wednesday fell below December 2022 lows and also cracked the $70.00 mark.  The chart shows clearly oversold readings but, so far, no sign of an immediate pause. The next strong level emerges around $66.00/20.