DM: Oil Heads for Longest Weekly Losing Streak in 13 Years
Oil fell a second day in New York, heading for the longest weekly losing streak in more than 13 years, on speculation the economies of the U.S. and China, the world’s biggest crude consumers, will slow and curb fuel demand.
Futures dropped as much as 2.6 percent. Federal Reserve officials need to assess the risk from Europe’s debt crisis and U.S. budget cuts before deciding on stimulus measures, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said to the Joint Economic Committee yesterday. China reports economic data tomorrow after cutting interest rates for the first time since 2008. Global crude supply is sufficient, Youcef Yousfi, Algeria’s energy minister, said before OPEC meets next week in Vienna.
“I don’t think anybody is really going to be carrying much of a position into the weekend with the China data dump,” said Nick Trevethan, a senior commodities strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) in Singapore who forecasts New York crude may drop to as low as $82 a barrel. “Certainly the market is concerned about what the data may bring.”
Oil for July delivery decreased as much as $2.23 to $82.59 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $82.86 at 5:49 p.m. Sydney time. The contract yesterday slipped 0.2 percent to $84.82, the lowest close since June 5. Prices are down 0.4 percent since June 1 and poised for a sixth weekly decline, the longest losing streak since December 1998. Oil has fallen 16 percent this year.
