NEW YORK: Brent crude oil prices fell for a fourth straight day on Friday, dropping under $100 a barrel to a 16-month low, as weak US and Chinese economic data thrashed markets and sent investors to perceived safer havens. Data showing US job growth stumbled in May and the jobless rate rose for the first time in nearly a year, added to worries about the global economy's health. A report from No. 2 oil consumer China, indicated a slowdown in that country's manufacturing sector, which dragged crude down early on Friday. That weak data added to ongoing worries the euro zone crisis will hurt fuel demand, to pull Brent crude down its 2012 peak of more than $128 a barrel in early March. "The negative employment data caps the recent deterioration in global economic data," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York. "From China to Europe to the US, all the data have shown real slowing." In May, both Brent and US crude posted their biggest monthly losses since late 2008, as trader focus on the potential disruption of Iranian oil supplies due to Western sanctions against Tehran was countered by the wider economic concerns. Friday's bearish sentiment swept across markets, with US stocks down sharply to erase most of the year's gains and the Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB commodity index down 1.7 percent to the lowest level since September 2010. Gold rose more than 3 percent on safe-haven buying and US government debt yields fell to record lows. Brent July crude tumbled $3.44 to settle at $98.43 a barrel, the weakest close since Jan. 27, 2011, having pushed below $100 for the first time since October. Brent's intraday low of $97.54 was the weakest since February 2011.

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