2019.10.1414:54:00UTC+00Oil Ends Sharply Lower On Slightly Fading Optimism Over Trade Deal

Crude oil futures drifted lower on Monday as weak data out of China and fading optimism about U.S.-China trade deal raised concerns about the outlook for energy demand.

Brexit concerns weighed as well on the commodity.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for November ended down $1.11, or about 2%, at $53.59 a barrel.

On Friday, WTI crude oil futures for November ended up $1.15, or 2.2%, at $54.70 a barrel, after having gained about 1.8% a session earlier. Crude oil futures gained 3.6% last week.

On the Brexit front, Britain and the European Union said on Sunday that a lot of work remains to be done to secure an agreement on Britain's departure from the bloc.

In trade news, the U.S. and China reached a phase one deal late on Friday, but scant details about the deal cast doubts over the durability of the partial preliminary deal.

The real sticking points of technology transfer and intellectual property theft do not find any significant mention in the proposed deal.

Although the U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the U.S. and China have reached a "very substantial phase one deal," it now turns out China wants another round of talks before signing the agreement.

According to a report in Bloomberg News, China may send a delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He to finalize a written deal that could be signed at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next month in Chile.

Also, China reportedly wants a planned tariff hike in December to be scrapped in addition to the hike scheduled for this week.

In economic news from China, official data from the General Administration of Customs showed China's exports declined more than expected in September reflecting weak global growth and trade disputes with the U.S. administration.

In dollar terms, exports fell 3.2% year-on-year in the month, bigger than the expected 3% decrease and prior month's 1% fall.

At the same time, imports decreased 8.5% annually versus the expected decline of 6%. As a result, the trade surplus increased to $39.65 billion from $34.83 billion a month ago.