U.S. oil closes below $40 a barrel for 1st time in nearly 4 months

Oil futures gave up an early bounce to settle lower Tuesday, with the U.S. benchmark closing below $40 a barrel for the first time since early April. September West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 55 cents, or 1.4%, to end at $39.51 a barrel. Oil had rallied in early action, but gave up gains toward midday as losses deepened for equity markets and futures cascaded through important chart support levels as traders await weekly U.S. inventories data amid a global crude glut.

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