Crude prices plummet on soft U.S. weekly jobless data
Published Jul 11, 2013 12:55PM ET
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded down 1.38% at USD105.05 a barrel on Thursday, off from a session high of USD107.45 and up from an earlier session low of USD104.32.
The number of individuals filing for initial jobless claims in the U.S. hit a two-month high last week, rising by 16,000 to 360,000, according to the Labor Department, defying expectations for a drop of 4,000 to 340,000.
A separate report showed that U.S. import prices fell 0.2% on a yearly basis in June, above expectations for a 0.1% decline, while exports prices rose 0.2% year-over-year, undershooting expectations for a 0.4% rise.
The numbers sent oil, a growth-sensitive commodity, plunging on concerns that U.S. recovery still faces headwinds and may demand less fuel and energy going forward than once thought, especially a day after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that stimulus tools will remain in place for now.
Stimulus programs like the Fed's monthly USD85 billion asset-purchasing scheme tend to push up oil prices as a side effect, though concerns U.S. recovery faces potholes allowed oil to fall in a sell-off fueled by profit taking.
On Wednesday, prices hit highs not seen since May of 2012 after the Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 9.9 million barrels in the week ended July 5, blowing past expectations for a decline of 3.3 million barrels.
The report also showed that total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 2.6 million barrels, confounding expectations for an increase of 1.2 million barrels.
On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for August delivery were down 0.87% at USD107.57 a barrel, up USD2.52 from its U.S. counterpart.
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Written By: Investing.com
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