Oil settles at $45.15 a barrel, hits fresh 5-month low

 “The overarching theme in the oil market … is the status of U.S. oil supply and whether or not we’ll be facing an imminent decline and the latest weekly data hasn’t brought any comfort relative to those kind of expectations,” BNP Paribas oil analyst Harry Tchilinguirian said.Oil inventories as reported by the EIA have fallen for two weeks in a row at a much faster rate than expected, but stocks are still just 6 percent below April’s record high.The dollar hovered around its highest in over three months after a voting member of the Federal Reserve’s policy-setting committee expressed support for an interest rate hike in September, which outweighed softer jobs market data.Read MoreRetail investors try to pick oil bottom and fail A stronger dollar tends to undermine crude oil by making it more profitable for non-U.S. investors to sell it.The oil price hit a six-month low below $50 a barrel earlier this week.”All the negative news we’ve had in the last few weeks and months, starting with the nuclear deal with Iran, through to economic weakness in China and the strength of the dollar have all added up and, at least in our view, this (selloff) was overdone,” said Commerzbank strategist Eugen Weinberg.

“When prices are oversold, a rebound becomes more likely.”