In The News
Oil prices fall on weak jobs data, OPEC decision
Benchmark U.S. crude oil was down 47 cents, or 1 percent, to $48.78 a barrel in New York this morning, The Associated Press reported.
Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, was down 60 cents, or 1.2 percent, at $49.44 a barrel in London.
Oil prices were near flat because of weaker than predicted jobs data, which in turn lowered expectations for gasoline demand and weighed on the dollar, news sources reported. Increased employment can boost demand for petroleum products, especially gasoline, as more commuters drive to work. Oil is traded in dollars and becomes cheaper for foreign buyers when the dollar falls.
U.S. companies added a seasonally adjusted 38,000 jobs in May, the weakest performance since September 2010, the Labor Department said Friday.
The price of oil also fell after OPEC nations said Thursday they didn't agree on cuts in energy production, which weighed on energy-industry stocks.
Prices had risen after U.S. data showed continued declines in domestic crude production and inventories. Investors expect the glut of crude oil in the U.S. to shrink as lower spending on new drilling takes its toll on output and demand remains robust.
"This trend of falling U.S. oil production should continue," said Phil Flynn, analyst at the Price Futures Group.
Ongoing production outages in Nigeria, Canada and elsewhere have supported prices in recent weeks but are expected to come to an end soon, which would pull prices back down.
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