MW: Crude futures slump more than 2% on economic worries
By Polya Lesova and Nick Godt, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures fell sharply Thursday, falling more than 2% to trade near $76 a barrel, as global economic worries again overshadowed energy trading and as the dollar strengthened.
Crude for September delivery recently fell $1.91, or 2.4%, to $76.11 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Adding gloom to the global economic landscape, the U.S. Labor Department said jobless claims rose 2,000 to 484,000 in the latest week. Economists expected claims to drop.
Crude oil dropped 2.8% in the previous session, as global equities fell sharply and U.S. government data showed large increases in inventories of gasoline and distillates last week.
"The energy market is back to the previous trading range of $70-$80 per barrel, as uncertain global conditions and fairly disappointing economic figures from [the] U.S., euro zone, and China weighed heavily on the market," analysts at Sucden Financial said in a note to clients.
"Due to a lack of major economic data today, investors' attention will turn to the U.S. dollar strength and the direction of the global equity markets," they wrote.
The dollar index (DXY 82.62, +0.33, +0.41%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, rose 0.4% to 82.61.
