Oil and gold prices fell on Monday amid a broader sell-off in global stock markets on growing fears of a U.S. recession.

Brent crude futures fell below $76 a barrel, hitting an eight-month low, while WTI crude Crude oil futures fell below $72.50 a barrel, hitting a six-month low, despite geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, as traders assessed faint demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.

A weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report on Friday weighed heavily on risk assets. “The release suggests the U.S. economy is slowing faster than expected, raising recession concerns. That only deepens concerns about Chinese demand that have been lingering in the oil market for some time,” ING analysts wrote in a note.

“However, while demand concerns are growing, geopolitical risks continue to loom over the oil market as participants wait to see how Iran responds to the assassination of a Hamas political leader on Iranian soil,” said Warren Patterson, head of ING commodities strategy, and Ewa Manthey, commodities strategist.

On the corporate side, oil and gas companies scheduled to report financial results this week include: It includes the following companies: Devon Energy (DVN), Diamondback Energy (FANG), Marathon Oil (MRO), Marathon Petroleum (MPC), Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and ONEOK (OKE).

Meanwhile, hedge funds turned mostly bearish on commodity futures for the first time since 2016, showing growing pessimism about demand for raw materials amid concerns about an economic slowdown, Bloomberg reported.

Fund managers held a net position of nearly 58,600 contracts that were used to bet lower prices on a basket of 20 commodities in the week ended July 30, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trade Commission data compiled by Bloomberg. For more than eight years — including the peak of the pandemic — investors have held net bets on prices, the report said.

Turning to metals, unthreatening haven gold (HAUUSD: CUR) fell 0.7% after early gains and a week-long rally on Friday. Gold is often considered a unthreatening bet in times of geopolitical turmoil, economic uncertainty or financial market instability. The non-yielding metal has risen 18% this year and is expected to find support from long-awaited U.S. interest rate cuts and renewed interest from Western investors for the rest of the year.

Base metals also traded in the red amid demand uncertainty and weakness in stock markets. Copper prices experienced a significant decline from record highs in May due to rising inventories in China.

Elsewhere in the agricultural commodities market, cocoa and wheat futures fell, while soybean prices remained stable.

Recent Commodity Price Volatility and a Look at Some ETFs