The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, May 4, edition that oil plunged for a second day, dipping below $70 a barrel in New York as the prospect of a United States recession triggered a flight from riskier assets and threatened to curb fuel demand (all figures U.S.). A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that OPEC+ production cut have failed stabilize crude markets. Oil futures fell to the lowest since March, when the first tremors of a banking crisis were sending prices into a tailspin. There was renewed anxiety on Wednesday over financial stability in the United States as well as signs of a cooling labour market. Rabobank analyst Joe Delaura says, "Fears of a wider economic slowdown" are driving the market. He says Brent crude, which was trading near $80 a barrel on Tuesday, will be the next to test $70. Crude has had a rough ride in 2023 despite China's re-emergence from its restrictive COVID Zero policy and sizable reductions in supply by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies. Those surprise cutbacks, announced just a month ago, were supposed to seize back control of the market from bearish speculators. Instead, a brief rally in April has fizzled.