Oil majors cast shadow over UK dividends after price slump

Brent crude oil prices have fallen 40% since June, dropping from $114 a barrel to below $70 last week, as demand weakens and suppliers decline to cut production. The UK's two oil majors, Shell and BP, have been badly hit, dropping 13% and 12% respectively over the past three months. Their fall was another drag on the resource-heavy UK blue chip index, which has already been held back by the knock-on effects of the oil price slump. As of last week, the FTSE 100 had risen 8% since the October lows for global equity markets, compared to a 13.5% rise for the EuroStoxx 50 and an 11.5% rebo...