The crude oil prices have been highly volatile in the last two months due to bout of strong economic data from US , China, followed by poor data from Europe and Japan. This week the prices have started on a weak note and have moved down from the 83 dollars a barrel level to below 80 dollars, due to continued fear of slow US economic recovery.
Also fear of a quick pull back by China of the stimulus measures had a major impact on all commodities including crude oil.