By Claudia Assis & Polya Lesova, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures fell for a fourth consecutive session on Friday, down a further 1.5% as jitters about Europe's debt woes raised questions about the sustainability of the global economic recovery and demand for energy. Crude for June delivery dropped $1.03 to stand at $73.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It earlier hit an intraday low of $72.72 a barrel. Oil futures, alongside their current losing streak, have notched losses in six of the past seven sessions. On the week, oil has receded 2.4% and has hovered around prices last seen in early February. A downturn for U.S. equities and a rising dollar "have compounded growing concerns regarding the oil market direct fundamentals, which have been underscored by the extreme weakness in the June crude oil contract," said Tim Evans, an analyst with Citi Futures Perspective. The dollar index (DXY 85.92, +0.72, +0.84%) , which stacks up the greenback against a basket of six currencies, jumped to 85.82 as the euro hit a 17-month low. Strength in the U.S. currency typically spells selling pressure on dollar-denominated commodities such as oil. The euro (CUR_EURUSD 1.2391, -0.0131, -1.0462%) fell to $1.244 in recent trading. See Currencies for more on the single currency's latest move lower, amid questions about euro-zone stability. Meanwhile, crude for July delivery still traded at a premium Friday, a price structure known as contango. July crude lost $1.71, or 2.1%, to $77.29 a barrel. "Broader financial concerns remain focused on Europe and we note that oil demand data for the region tends to confirm that something more than the market for Greek bonds has been affected by the crisis," Evans said in a note to clients Friday. Oil demand for Europe was 4.5% lower than a year ago, he added, citing weekly data from the Energy Department. "The energy market seems quite nervous and volatile amid concerns that the euro zone's new austerity measures could dampen the already fragile European economic recovery and the levels of energy demand," wrote Sucden Financial Research analysts in a research brief. Spain and Portugal this week announced austerity measures aimed at sharply curtailing their budget deficits. Worries over debt levels in the euro zone persisted for much of the week, after the European Union announced a financial-stabilization program worth 750 billion euros. Meanwhile, energy traders shrugged off several U.S. economic reports. U.S. consumer sentiment rose in early May, based on the latest Reuters/University of Michigan index. The consumer sentiment index rose to 73.3 in May from 72.2 in April, while economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected the May reading to hit 73.5. Separately, the government reported U.S. retail sales rose 0.2% in April. Excluding autos, retail sales increased 0.4%.

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