Crude futures settle lower

Oil prices fell on Thursday.

The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery dropped 86 cents, or 1.47 percent, to settle at 57.6 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for February delivery decreased by 93 cents, or 1.49 percent, to 61.28 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

China is to use structural monetary policy tools such as the rate cuts to help financial resources flow to key areas, experts said on Thursday following the conclusion of the annual Central Economic Work Conference where Chinese leaders decided priorities for the economic work in 2026.

At this year's Central Economic Work Conference, it was mentioned for the first time that flexible and efficient use of various policy tools, such as reserve requirement ratios (RRR) cuts and interest rate reductions should be employed to maintain ample liquidity.

Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of Merchants Union Consumer Finance Company, said the role of structural monetary policy tools will be leveraged for the development of sci-tech and green industries.

"It is expected that in 2026, deposit rates and policy rates will further decline, and the loan prime rate (LPR) is anticipated to remain stable with a slight downward trend. More emphasis will be placed on leveraging the role of structural monetary policy tools to guide financial resources toward scientific and technological innovation, green development, and boosting consumption," he said.

"Moreover, monetary policy will focus on balancing and managing the relationships between short-term and long-term goals, ensuring growth and preventing risks, and internal and external factors," said Dong.

Zhang Wenlang, a chief macro analyst at China International Capital Corporation Limited, said the employment of various structural monetary policy tools will help guarantee financial support for the country's high quality development.

"What monetary policy emphasizes is the 'flexible and efficient use of various policy tools, such as RRR cuts and interest rate reductions'. That means, in addition to traditional RRR and interest rate cuts, monetary policy will employ various structural tools. Moreover, to meet the needs of economic development, the existing structural toolkit can be further improved and enriched to provide more precise and effective support for high-quality development," said Zhang.