Crude oil futures - Weekly review: May 2-6

Forex Pros – Last week saw crude oil futures plunge to a three-month low on Friday, capping its biggest weekly decline since December 2008 as a broadly stronger U.S. dollar and concerns over diminishing oil demand in the U.S. weighed on prices.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in June settled at USD98.11 a barrel by close of trade on Friday, plunging 13.5% on the week. It earlier fell to USD94.81 a barrel, the lowest price since February 22.

Crude prices fell for a fifth day on Friday amid concerns over a slowdown in demand from the world’s largest oil consumer, after official data showed that the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 9.0% last month from 8.8% in March.

Oil briefly pared losses after a separate report showed that U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 244,000 in April, as the private sector posted the strongest employment gain in five years.

On Thursday, crude futures plunged 8.6%, its biggest one-day decline since April 20, 2009 as the U.S. dollar strengthened after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet indicated that the central bank may wait to increase interest rates.

The dollar index jumped 2.6% on the week to settle at 75.16 on Friday, the highest since April 19. Dollar-denominated oil futures contracts tend to rise when the dollar falls, as this makes oil cheaper for buyers in other currencies.

Crude prices were also pressured as a selloff for silver, and to a lesser extent gold, triggered a massive flight from commodities. 

Meanwhile, data on Wednesday showed that total U.S. crude oil inventories rose to the highest level since October in the week ended April 29, after adding 3.4 million barrels, higher than the expected increase of 1.9 million barrels.

Gasoline consumption dropped 2.2% to 8.94 million barrels a day during the week, the report showed.

“U.S. oil demand is pretty soft as high prices are clearly having a dampening effect,” Commerzbank said in a report late Wednesday.

On Monday, oil futures retreated from a 31-month high after reports that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan sparked a broad-based selloff in commodities.

Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for June delivery settled at USD109.98 a barrel by close of trade on Friday, the lowest price since February 21. The Brent contract tumbled 12.3% on the week and was up USD11.87 on its U.S. counterpart.

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