Crude oil prices rose today driven by new data from China, which suggested its manufacturing activity was picking up after the slump amid last year’s lockdowns. Brent crude was trading at just above $84 per barrel at the time of writing and West Texas Intermediate was changing hands at over $77.60 per barrel, both up by about 0.7 percent from yesterday’s close. Reuters reported that China’s factory activity rose last month, for the first time in seven months. PMI data also showed manufacturing activity expanding at the fastest…