By Dan Molinski and Christopher Alessi 

--U.S. oil prices fell Wednesday as investors remained focused on global economic-growth concerns and how a slowdown might put a dent in demand for oil.

--West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. oil standard, ended 0.7% lower at $52.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have fallen the past two sessions and three of the past four sessions, though prices are still up 16% so far this year.

--Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.6% to $61.14 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

HIGHLIGHTS

Global Economy: The bullish sentiment that bolstered the oil market during the first three weeks of 2019 has largely taken a breather this week. "Right now, the market is kind of keyed in to growth risks stemming from U.S.-China trade talks, and a slow start out of the gate for the U.S., given the government shutdown," said Chris Kettenmann, chief energy strategist at Macro Risk Advisors. He said that while prices have rallied off late 2018 lows given short-covering and as agreed-on production cuts by OPEC nations start to bite, "the market is now looking for a little more clarification on issues like growth...to know where the market will be going."

Davos: As government officials and business executives gather at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, the International Monetary Fund warned of economic risks around the globe. "We saw both doom and gloom coming out of Davos," said Phil Flynn at Price Futures in Chicago. "Talk of slowdown fears are making the rounds." Among the concerns being voiced at Davos are Britain's planned exit from the European Union and a slowdown in the Chinese economy. The IMF lowered its global economic-growth forecast for 2019 to 3.5% from 3.7%.

U.S. Inventories: Investors will next focus on weekly data on U.S. oil inventories that could show crude stockpiles start to bearishly creep higher after trending slightly lower the past two months. The Energy Information Administration is due Thursday to release its weekly report on U.S. oil inventories. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect, on average, to see a 600,000-barrel decline in crude stockpiles, but a hefty, 2.7-million-barrel rise in gasoline supplies. But the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said late Wednesday that its own data for the week showed a 6.6-million-barrel increase in crude supplies, a 3.6-million-barrel rise in gasoline stocks and a 2.6-million-barrel increase in distillate inventories, according to a market participant.

INSIGHT

OPEC+: The oil market has been bolstered since the start of 2019 by the implementation of production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies. OPEC and 10 producers outside the oil cartel, led by Russia, agreed late in 2018 to collectively hold back crude output by 1.2 million barrels a day for the first half of 2019, to rein in a burgeoning supply glut and boost prices.

Overall, the "OPEC+ production deal and healthy oil-demand growth should keep the oil market balanced in 2019," UBS Wealth Management analysts said in a note Wednesday. "While trade war fears continue to unsettle financial markets, oil-demand growth has remained healthy."

AHEAD

-- The EIA is due to release its weekly oil inventory report on Thursday morning.

Write to Dan Molinski at Dan.Molinski@wsj.com and Christopher Alessi at christopher.alessi@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 23, 2019 17:07 ET (22:07 GMT)