Crude ends lower

Crude registers first weekly loss in a month

Crude oil prices ended lower on Friday, 02 July 2010 at Nymex. Prices fell as uncertainty and fears about the health of the U.S. economy came in focus again as traders mulled over a mixed jobs report and a steeper-than-expected drop for factory sales.



On Friday, crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for August delivery closed at $72.14/barrel (lower by $0.81 or 1.1%). For the week, prices shed 8.5%. With this week's loss, crude ended lower for the first time in four weeks.

For the month of June, oil prices shed 2.7%. Before this, in May, crude shed 14%. It was the biggest monthly drop for crude since December 2008. For the month of April, crude rose 2.8%. Crude ended second quarter of CY 2010 lower by 9.3%. For the first quarter of this year, crude rose by 5.5%. Year to date, crude is higher by 1.2%.

The Labor Department in US reported on Friday, 02 July 2010 that total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 125,000 in June 2010 as the number of temporary census workers dropped by 225,000. This is the first decline in nonfarm payrolls this year. The decline in total payroll was roughly in line with expectations. There was only modest hiring of workers in the private sector in June. Private hiring edged up by a disappointing 83,000 in June from a revised 33,000 increase in May, originally reported as a 41,000 gain.

The unemployment report released by the government on Friday was better than expected but it still showed that the pace of the U.S. economic recovery has slowed in recent weeks. The nation's unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 9.5% in June from 9.7% in May.

Separately, Commerce Department reported that factory orders declined 1.4% in May, their biggest drop in 14 months.

Earlier during the week, EIA reported on Wednesday that crude-oil inventories dropped 2 million barrels on the week ended 25 June, at the top of the range of expectations. Overall, however, crude stocks are well above average. Gasoline stocks rose 500,000 barrels, and stocks of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, rose 2.5 million. Refineries ran at 86.9% of their capacity, a decline of 0.3% from the previous week.

On Friday, natural gas gave back gains after a smaller-than-expected increase in natural gas in storages. Natural gas for August delivery retreated 17 cents, or 3.4%, to settle at $4.69 per million British thermal units.

Also on Friday, August reformulated gasoline lost 2 cents, or 1%, to $1.98 a gallon. Heating oil for August delivery receded 2 cents, or 1.2%, to $1.91 per gallon.

Crude ended FY 2009 higher by 78%, the highest yearly gain since 1999. It reached a high of $82 earlier in October 2009 and hit a low of $33.98 on 12 February 2009. Crude prices had ended FY 2008 lower by 54%, the largest yearly loss since trading began at Nymex.