Investing.com - Crude oil futures retreated in U.S. trade Friday, as the release of weak labor data in the U.S. spawned fears in a further slowdown in the economy of the world’s largest oil consumer.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for October delivery traded at USD86.38 a barrel during afternoon U.S. trade, falling 2.75%, after hitting a daily high of USD88.99.
The U.S. Labor Department, earlier Friday, reported that non-farm payrolls were unchanged last month, the weakest job reading in a year. Market expectations were for non-farm payrolls to increase by 74,000 in August, after a revised 85,000 gain in July.
Stagnant job growth raised the odds that the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank may be preparing for a new round of asset buying, or quantitative easing.
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget, on Thursday, forecast that unemployment would average 8.8% this year, down from an earlier estimate of 9.3%.
Meanwhile, oil production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico braced for the next major storm of the year. A tropical depression was forecast to approach the coast of Louisiana over the weekend, and could be upgraded to a tropical storm later Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
The Gulf is home to 29% of U.S. oil production and British Petroleum has already ordered the evacuation of non-essential personnel from four of its platforms in the area.
A rising U.S. dollar helped to depress oil futures, as dollar-denominated futures contracts tend to fall when the dollar rises.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, gained 0.28% to 74.78.
On the ICE Futures Exchange Brent oil futures for October delivery retreated 1.02% to trade at USD112.94.