WTI holds below $70.00 as weak Chinese data sparks demand concerns

• WTI price declines to near $69.70 in Wednesday's early Asian session.
• Chinese economic data stoked concerns about demand, weighing on the WTI price. 
• US crude inventories fell by about 4.7M barrels last week, the API showed. 

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US crude oil benchmark, is trading around $69.70 on Wednesday. The WTI price edges lower amid the renewed concerns about Chinese demand. Investors remains cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate decision on Wednesday. 

The disappointing Chinese Retail Sales raised concerns about the weakness in consumer spending in China, the world's largest oil importer. "Bearish momentum spawned by the China data destroyed any hopes speculators had of breaking out of the two-month range to the upside," noted Robert Yawger, director of the energy futures division at Mizuho Securities USA. 

Oil traders await the Fed's final policy meeting of the year on Wednesday. The market has already priced in a 25 basis points (bps) interest rate cut, but the attention will focus on the Fed's forward guidance regarding rate policy for 2025 and 2026. Any signs of a less aggressive easing cycle by the Fed could boost the Greenback and drag the USD-denominated commodity price lower. 

A decline in US crude inventories last week might help limit the WTI's losses. The US American Petroleum Institute (API) weekly report showed crude oil stockpiles in the United States for the week ending December 13 fell by 4.7 million barrels, compared to a rise of 499,000 barrels in the previous week. The market consensus estimated that stocks would decrease by 1.85 million barrels.