Crude oil fell for a fourth day in New York, the longest losing streak in seven weeks, amid concern the economic recovery in the U.S. and China will slow and curb demand in the world’s two largest energy consumers. Oil slumped to its lowest in two weeks as Hurricane Alex weakened to a Category 1 storm on its path over northeastern Mexico and forecasters said it could be further downgraded to a tropical storm by tomorrow. China’s manufacturing expanded at a reduced pace for a second month in June, adding to signs the fastest-growing major economy is cooling. “The Chinese manufacturing index was disappointing and adds to the whole array of bearish macro data and sour market sentiment,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst with VTB Capital in London. “With trading based purely on macro developments, it looks like we could be heading for $72.” Oil for August delivery fell as much as $1.42, or 1.9 percent, to $74.21 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest since June 14. It was at $74.66 at 1:41 p.m. in London. Brent crude for August delivery declined to $1 to $74.01 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. Futures in New York are down 5.9 percent this year and lost 11 percent in the second quarter. The market is in its longest retreat since a six-day drop through May 18. China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 52.1 from 53.9 in May, the Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said today in an e-mailed statement. This missed a median 53.2 estimate from 12 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Jobs Reports U.S. companies in June added the smallest number of workers since February, data from ADP Employer Services showed yesterday. Private payrolls increased by 13,000, less than a median estimate of 60,000 in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. A Labor Department report tomorrow will probably show June payrolls fell. “There are a lot of concerns about the pace of the U.S. economic recovery,” said David Moore, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney. “Sentiment is still relatively cautious. Some of the U.S. data flow was on the soft side of expectations.” Gasoline inventories rose 537,000 barrels to 218.1 million in the week ended June 25, halting a seven-week gain, according to an Energy Department report yesterday. Supplies, 3.5 percent above the five-year average, were forecast to decrease by 400,000 barrels, based on a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. Fuel Demand Falls Crude stockpiles fell 2 million barrels last week to 363.1 million, partly on reduced imports, the Energy Department said. Distillate fuel inventories, including heating oil and diesel, climbed 2.5 million barrels to 159.4 million. That’s the highest in eight weeks. U.S. fuel consumption declined 2.7 percent to 19 million barrels a day, the lowest since April, the report showed. Alex, the earliest Atlantic hurricane since 1995, was packing maximum sustained winds of 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour about 160 miles south-southwest of Brownsville, Texas, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in advisory posted on its website at 10 a.m. London time. Eight rigs and 74 production platforms were evacuated because of the hurricane, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. Almost 421,000 barrels a day of oil output were shut in, or 26 percent of Gulf production, along with 919 million cubic feet of natural-gas output, or 14 percent. The center of the storm was about 600 miles from BP Plc’s leaking Macondo oil well, the source of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, based on data compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the reporters on this story: Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net

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