Oil fell the most in a week in New York as speeches yesterday by President Barack Obama and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke didn’t boost confidence in the world’s largest economy. Crude tumbled as much as 3.1 percent after Bernanke stopped short of outlining new plans to boost growth. Obama, speaking before a joint session of Congress, demanded that lawmakers act on a plan to boost spending, stem layoffs and cut taxes. “Bernanke didn’t give any further insight into stimulus measures, and Obama’s speech has been received very tepidly, which continues to weigh on concerns about the U.S. economy,” said Matt Smith, a commodities analyst for Summit Energy Services Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky. “This is dominating the move in the crude market.” Crude for October delivery dropped $2.44, or 2.7 percent, to $86.61 a barrel at 9:42 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 0.2 percent this week and have fallen 5.3 percent this year. Brent for October settlement declined $2.61, or 2.3 percent, to $111.94 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange. Bernanke told economists yesterday that the Fed has measures at hand and is “prepared to employ these tools as appropriate” when policy makers meet this month. Obama challenged Congress to pass a $447 billion jobs plan “right away” that would boost spending on infrastructure, stem teacher layoffs and cut in half the payroll taxes paid by workers and small business owners. Euro Falls Oil also fell as a declining euro undermined the appeal of dollar-denominated commodities, outweighing concerns that a tropical storm off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula will limit the supply of crude. “The macro-economic data looks more bleak and so the demand side is acting as a capping mechanism,” said Andy Sommer, a senior trader at EGL AG in Dietikon, Switzerland, who predicts Brent will end the year at about $115 a barrel. The euro fell 0.8 percent to $1.3771 at 9:20 a.m. in New York. The euro has dropped and the U.S. currency has advanced 3.1 percent in the past five days. Tropical Storm Nate, located 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Campeche, Mexico, is forecast to become the third hurricane of the Atlantic season as early as today. Top winds are 65 miles an hour, under the 74 mph threshold needed to be upgraded, according to a National Hurricane Center advisory at 8 a.m. East Coast time. It was “drifting northwestward.” To contact the reporter on this story: Margot Habiby in Dallas at mhabiby@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net.

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