As China construction falls off, oil prices will follow

In January in China, the bulldozer sales volume is 460 sets, declines by 66.64% year-on-year and 18.73% month-on-month, becoming the worst since January 2010. The sales volume in domestic market is 226 sets, declining by 79.25% year-on-year. The export volume is 234 sets, declining by 19.31% year-on-year.

World crude steel production fell 7.8 percent to 117 million tonnes in January, compared with the same month last year, World Steel Association data showed. China's crude steel output fell 13 percent in the same period to 52.1 million tonnes.

China's four biggest state-owned banks extended about 70 billion yuan ($11.1 billion) in new local-currency loans from Feb. 1-19, suggesting a big drop in lending, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is expected to target growth of less than 8 percent for the world's second-biggest economy in his report to the National People's Congress on March 5, according to 8 of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The government had an 8 percent goal from 2005 to 2011, however, even a return to that level of growth may be difficult in a real estate downturn.

Look for oil prices to peak in coming weeks and then retreat below $90.