Oil prices fell by more than $2 to below $69 a barrel Friday as disappointing U.S. unemployment figures reinforced doubts about the U.S. economic recovery, discouraging stock and crude investors.
By mid-afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for November deliver was down $2.35 at $68.47 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 21 cents to settle at $70.82 on Thursday.
Crude has hovered around $70 for months amid mixed signals about the strength of the U.S. economic recovery. On Thursday, poor economic data sparked a sell-off in U.S. stock markets, which continued Friday as the U.S. Labor Department released worse-than-expected jobless figures.
The unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September, the highest since June 1983, as employers cut far more jobs than predicted — a net total of 263,000 jobs were lost last month, more than the 201,000 shed in August.
Economists had predicted losses of 180,000 jobs, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.1 percent Thursday and futures predicted a lower open on Friday as well. Most Asian markets closed lower Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 down 2.5 percent. Stocks were also lower in Europe, with London's FTSE 100 losing 0.8 percent, Germany's DAX down 1.9 percent and the CAC 40 in Paris off by 2.5 percent.
"At $70 a barrel, investors have priced in a fairly sharp economic recovery," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "That makes it vulnerable to bad economic news."
In other Nymex trading, heating oil fell 4.58 cents to $1.7816 a gallon. Gasoline for November delivery dropped 3.67 cents to $1.7212 a gallon. Natural gas for November delivery lost 4.6 cents to $4.42 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude fell $1.88 to $67.31 on the ICE Futures exchange.
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