Investing.com - Crude oil futures edged lower in choppy trade on Friday to settle the week close to a seven-day low, as market players digested less encouraging details of November’s non-farm payrolls report.
Concerns about a lack of progress in the U.S. “fiscal cliff” budget negotiations added to jitters about the U.S. economy
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in January shed 0.3% Friday to settle at USD86.01 a barrel by close of trade.
Earlier in the day, prices touched a session low of USD85.78 a barrel. Oil prices fell to a seven-day low of USD85.67 a barrel on Thursday, amid concerns over the outlook for global energy demand.
On the week, New York-traded oil futures lost 3.3%, the first weekly decline in five weeks.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the economy added 146,000 jobs in November, beating forecasts for an increase of 93,000. The unemployment rate fell to 7.7%, an almost four year low from 7.9% in October.
But sentiment remained under pressure as investors digested less encouraging details of the jobs report.
According to the data, the decline in the unemployment rate was attributed to more people dropping out of the labor force, while previous month’s gain of 171,000 was revised down to 138,000.
Oil traders have long been taking cues from the monthly jobs report, the most-closely followed indicator of U.S. employment, because it offers insight into the economic health of the world's largest oil consumer.
Also Friday, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment fell to a seasonally adjusted 74.5 for December from 82.7 in November.
Analysts had expected the index to fall only slightly to 82.4.
Meanwhile, investors continued to monitor developments surrounding the fiscal cliff in the U.S., approximately USD600 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts due to come into effect on January 1, unless a divided Congress and the White House can work out a compromise in the three weeks left before the deadline.
There are fears that U.S. lawmakers will repeat the same political divisiveness that led Standard & Poor's to downgrade the U.S.’s AAA rating in August 2011 and tip the country back into a recession.
The U.S. is the world’s biggest oil-consuming country, responsible for almost 22% of global oil demand.
Elsewhere, in the euro zone, Germany’s Bundesbank on Friday cut its forecast for growth in 2013 to just 0.4% from 1.6% previously and warned that the financial crisis in the euro zone will have a larger impact on the bloc’s largest economy.
On Thursday, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policymakers had discussed a rate cut and slashed forecasts for economic growth and inflation at the central bank’s post-policy meeting press conference.
The ECB left rates unchanged at 0.75%, in a widely expected decision.
In the week ahead, investors will be focusing on the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Wednesday, amid expectations that policymakers will continue to pursue a policy of monetary easing in order to support the U.S. economic recovery.
The Fed vowed in September to buy USD40 billion in mortgage securities each month until the economy improves in a third round of what is known as quantitative easing, or QE3.
Oil traders will also be focusing on a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Wednesday, as well as a two-day summit meeting of European Union leaders due to begin Thursday.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil futures for January delivery fell 0.8% Friday to settle at USD106.27 a barrel, the lowest since November 8.
The London-traded Brent contract retreated 4.4% over the week, while the spread between the Brent and the crude contracts stood at USD20.26 a barrel.
Concerns about a lack of progress in the U.S. “fiscal cliff” budget negotiations added to jitters about the U.S. economy
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in January shed 0.3% Friday to settle at USD86.01 a barrel by close of trade.
Earlier in the day, prices touched a session low of USD85.78 a barrel. Oil prices fell to a seven-day low of USD85.67 a barrel on Thursday, amid concerns over the outlook for global energy demand.
On the week, New York-traded oil futures lost 3.3%, the first weekly decline in five weeks.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the economy added 146,000 jobs in November, beating forecasts for an increase of 93,000. The unemployment rate fell to 7.7%, an almost four year low from 7.9% in October.
But sentiment remained under pressure as investors digested less encouraging details of the jobs report.
According to the data, the decline in the unemployment rate was attributed to more people dropping out of the labor force, while previous month’s gain of 171,000 was revised down to 138,000.
Oil traders have long been taking cues from the monthly jobs report, the most-closely followed indicator of U.S. employment, because it offers insight into the economic health of the world's largest oil consumer.
Also Friday, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment fell to a seasonally adjusted 74.5 for December from 82.7 in November.
Analysts had expected the index to fall only slightly to 82.4.
Meanwhile, investors continued to monitor developments surrounding the fiscal cliff in the U.S., approximately USD600 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts due to come into effect on January 1, unless a divided Congress and the White House can work out a compromise in the three weeks left before the deadline.
There are fears that U.S. lawmakers will repeat the same political divisiveness that led Standard & Poor's to downgrade the U.S.’s AAA rating in August 2011 and tip the country back into a recession.
The U.S. is the world’s biggest oil-consuming country, responsible for almost 22% of global oil demand.
Elsewhere, in the euro zone, Germany’s Bundesbank on Friday cut its forecast for growth in 2013 to just 0.4% from 1.6% previously and warned that the financial crisis in the euro zone will have a larger impact on the bloc’s largest economy.
On Thursday, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policymakers had discussed a rate cut and slashed forecasts for economic growth and inflation at the central bank’s post-policy meeting press conference.
The ECB left rates unchanged at 0.75%, in a widely expected decision.
In the week ahead, investors will be focusing on the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Wednesday, amid expectations that policymakers will continue to pursue a policy of monetary easing in order to support the U.S. economic recovery.
The Fed vowed in September to buy USD40 billion in mortgage securities each month until the economy improves in a third round of what is known as quantitative easing, or QE3.
Oil traders will also be focusing on a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Wednesday, as well as a two-day summit meeting of European Union leaders due to begin Thursday.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil futures for January delivery fell 0.8% Friday to settle at USD106.27 a barrel, the lowest since November 8.
The London-traded Brent contract retreated 4.4% over the week, while the spread between the Brent and the crude contracts stood at USD20.26 a barrel.