The benchmark U.S. oil price tumbled below $60 a barrel for the first time in five years, intensifying the pain across financial markets and jolting the central banks of some oil-dependent economies into action.

The decline in oil weighed on U.S. stocks on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up as much as 225 points on strong U.S. economic data before paring gains amid a renewed descent in crude. The blue-chip index ended up 63.19 points, or 0.4%, to 17596.34.

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