Crude oil fell for a fourth day on Friday, extending the biggest weekly drop in over a month, amid continued worries over demand following the rising U.S. fuel inventories and the global economic slowdown.
Moreover, China’s manufacturing unexpectedly shrank in May for the first time in seven months, darkening the outlook for demand on oil from the world’s second largest oil consumer, while in Germany, the manufacturing remained contracted in May.
- Crude is trading around $93.92 a barrel with the highest at $94.40 and the lowest at $93.74
- Brent is trading around $102.28 a barrel as of this writing after falling 0.16% or $0.16
The strong U.S. housing data renewedgenerated worries in the U.S. that the Fed would cut back its bond-buying program earlier than previously thought. Bernanke said that the central bank could scale back the pace of bond purchases “in the next few meetings”.
Data from the Energy Information Agency showed this week gasoline stockpiles in the U.S. rose 3 million barrels last week to 220 million, near the highest for this time of year since 1999, showing a well-supplied market and sparking expectations of a drop in prices.
The European Central Bank`s president Mario Draghi said on Thursday that the eurozone’s economy is “more stable than a year ago but economic conditions remain challenging and governments must push on with reforms and banking union plans”.
- Natural gas is trading at $4.281 per cubic feet after rising 0.47%
- Gasoline is trading at $2.8272 a gallon after falling 0.03%
- Heating oil is trading at $2.8527 a gallon after falling 0.26%