Crude oil in New York fell as traders booked profits from yesterday's rally on concern the pace of fuel demand recovery in the United States may stall.
Oil slipped below $70 a barrel after an unexpected drop in US business activity and as companies cut more jobs than estimated. Prices rallied 5.9 per cent yesterday, the most since April 2nd, after the Energy Department posted a surprise drawdown in gasoline stockpiles.
Crude oil for November delivery fell as much as 72 cents, or 1 per cent, to $69.89 a barrel
in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $70.02 a barrel at 12.25pm in Singapore. Futures have gained 57 per cent this year.
The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago's business barometer slid to 46.1, trailing the most pessimistic estimate from economists. Companies in the US cut September payrolls by a larger-than-forecast 254,000 jobs, a report from ADP Employer Services showed, indicating the labour market may be slow to recover.
US gasoline inventories fell 1.7 million barrels to 211.5 million in the week to September 25th, the Energy Department said yesterday. Stockpiles were forecast to rise one million barrels, according to the median of estimates in a Bloomberg News survey of analysts.
Crude oil supplies climbed 2.8 million barrels to 338.4 million, the report showed. Distillate stockpiles, which include heating oil and diesel, rose 323,000 barrels to 171.1 million.
Bloomberg