Forexpros - Crude oil futures dropped to their lowest levels in three weeks Friday, as traders anticipate the U.S. nonfarm payroll report and demand concerns were fanned by shrinking services and manufacturing output in the euro zone. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at USD101.19 a barrel, giving back 1.45%. All eyes are on the U.S. nonfarm payrolls set for later in the session. Economists are projecting that U.S. employers added 160,000 jobs last month with the jobless rate holding at a three year low of 8.2%. Adding to the uncertainty, France and Greece will hold elections over the weekend. French voters will decide on the final round of the countries presidential race and Greece will be voting on a new parliament. Francois Hollande, the Socialist challenger for the French highest office, is the leading incumbent. He is calling for a re-negotiation of the budget pact with European leaders, saying it needs to place more of an emphasis on growth. He has rejected Sarkozy’s plan to increase sales taxes to fund lower payroll charges. Meanwhile in Greece, neither of the two major political parties, New Democracy and Socialist Pasok is likely to win the majority. On Thursday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said oil stockpiles increased by 2.84 million barrels to 375.9 million last week. In addition, oil sold of following the release of weaker-than-expected U.S. employment data for April. Payroll processing firm ADP said the U.S. private sector added 119,000 jobs in April, far short of expectations for a gain of 177,000, after an increase of 209,000 in March. It was the smallest increase in ADP nonfarm payrolls since September 2011. A separate report showed that factory orders in the U.S. declined in line with expectations in March, falling 1.5%, following a 1.1% increase the previous month. In addition, fears over the economic outlook for the euro zone weighed on market sentiment after final euro zone manufacturing data for April slumped to a 34-month low, while the unemployment rate in the bloc climbed to a record 10.7% in March. The euro zone data also indicated that the effects of the crisis in the region are spreading to core economies. German manufacturing output fell at the fastest rate since July 2009, with its manufacturing PMI tumbling to 46.2, from 48.4 in March, while a separate report showed that the German unemployment rate also rose last month. On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for June delivery plunged 0.88% to trade at USD115.06 a barrel, up USD13.94 from its U.S. counterpart.

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