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The price of crude oil fell for the second consecutive day on Tuesday amidst a rallying greenback, a strong Iranian determination to continue increasing its oil production, inventory increases expected to be reported in the USA tomorrow, continuing lack of confidence in the upcoming oil industry meeting in September, and oil rig closures in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as they brace for a storm.

This storm is being called Tropical Depression 9. It came into being just south of Florida on Sunday and is expected to hit the Florida Gulf Coast some time on Thursday. The U.S. Government reported on Tuesday that so far, in preparation for the storm, operators have shut down oil infrastructure representing 352,946 barrels a day. This level of closures is the highest level of weather-related outages for the U.S. since at least 2013.

Unfortunately for the crude oil market, however, news of storm-related closures in the U.S. barely managed to be heard among an overwhelming current of ongoing scepticism.

Hopeful investors latched onto news of a potential output freeze deal in the works for an upcoming oil industry meeting to be attended by OPEC members as well as non-OPEC oil producers in Algeria late next month, and rode the story for a nearly August-long rally before seeming to lose grip on the momentum as they considered the recent reluctance of Iran to come on board with output freeze talks as they push to raise their output to levels they enjoyed before the 2012 oil embargo was imposed on them. Sentiment regarding the upcoming industry meeting seem dampened at best, most agreeing that Iran will likely refuse, choosing rather to maintain on course with their mission to recapture pre-embargo output levels, and that other nations will reluctantly feel forced to follow suit.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) report claiming that American crude stockpiles rose 942,000 barrels last week only served to help drag on the price of oil in after-market trade, for obvious reasons. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report's official numbers will be released on Wednesday.

And finally, the price of oil suffered further as the American dollar was strengthened by data released by The Conference Board showing a rise in U.S. consumer confidence index to 101.1 in August from 96.7 in July. 101.1 is the highest U.S. consumer confidence index since September of 2015.

In the end, Brent crude dropped by 89 cents, or 1.8 percent, on London's ICE Futures Exchange settling at $48.37 while October West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude lost 63 cents, or 1.3 percent, to settle at $46.35 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Today's main influences, the bears and bulls:

The Bears:
- The American Dollar rallying on interest rate hike expectations and increasing consumer confidence
- Iran stubbornly continuing to increase output amidst continuing global glut and amidst urgings by other OPEC members to work on an output freeze agreement
- The API Report claiming American oil stockpiles rose by nearly 950,000 barrels for the week ending August 26th
- A realistic scepticism that an output freeze agreement will be reached at the upcoming industry meeting in Algeria

The Bulls:
- Oil rig closures as the Florida Gulf Coast braces for Tropical Depression