MW: Crude futures slide back toward $73; jobs report disappoints
By Nick Godt, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures fell more than 2% on Friday as a much-awaited report on jobs and hiring in the U.S. underwhelmed the market and, coupled with more bad news from Europe, raised the odds of a double-dip recession.
Crude for July delivery fell $1.56, or 2.1%, to $73.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On the week, prices have lost 1.2%.
The Labor Department reported the nation's economy added 431,000 jobs in May, but Census hiring inflated the numbers, masking weakness in private-sector hiring. Economists had expected an increase of about half a million jobs on the month. Read more on the jobs report.
Also affecting energy trading, the euro remained under pressure as questions about Hungary's solvency arose, largely as a result of comments attributed to a spokesman for the Hungarian prime minister who said the country's situation is "grave." The single currency fell to a four-year low.
That meant that the dollar was the star currency of the day, keeping commodities under pressure. The dollar index (DXY 87.76, +0.62, +0.72%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.7% to 87.73. Read more on the euro.
Meanwhile, natural gas bucked the downward trend for energy and commodities in general, still basking in the glow of a smaller-than-expected weekly increase in gas in storage reported on Thursday.
Natural gas for July delivery added 3 cents, or 0.6%, to $4.72 per million British thermal units, the highest in three months.
Reformulated gasoline for July delivery lost 4 cents, or 2.1%, to $2 a gallon.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs analysts said in report Friday they believe oil markets are "oversold" as they forecast prices in a range of $85 to $95 a barrel in the second half of the year.