Oil drops near $72

By Hibah Yousuf, staff reporter


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices declined for a fifth straight session Friday after an employment report showed the first drop in U.S. payrolls this year.

What prices are doing: Crude oil futures for August delivery fell 81 cents, or more than 1%, to settle at $72.14 a barrel after seesawing in earlier trading.

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Disappointing economic news this week has increased fears about the strength of the global economic recovery, pushing oil more than 8% lower.

The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas decreased to $2.750, down 0.4 cent from the previous day's price of $2.754 according to motorist group AAA.

What's moving the market: The Labor Department said employers shed 125,000 jobs in June, the first decline in payrolls this year, as the Census Bureau cut the temporary workers it had brought on to conduct the decennial U.S. population count.

Economists had expected a loss of 100,000 jobs during the month, according to a consensus estimate from Briefing.com.

The unemployment rate edged lower to 9.5% in June from 9.7% in May, while economists had expected the rate to rise to 9.8%.

What analysts are saying: The energy market is in need of positive economic news across the board for oil prices to rebound, Myrto Sokou, an analyst at Sucden Financial, said in a research note.

"If economic figures continue to disappoint the markets, we could see crude oil prices test the $70 per barrel range in the short-term," she said.  To top of page

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