Energy futures fell on Friday as news of a cooling job market in the US outweighed concerns about tight oil supplies.
The US Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent last month, a six-month high. That suggests the US economy might be slowing, which could lower demand for oil and gasoline.
"The jobs outlook ended up being a little bit softer," said Chip Hodge, energy portfolio manager at John Hancock Financial Securities in Boston.
Partly offsetting the impact of the jobs data were fresh comments from OPEC suggesting the oil cartel won't boost production when it meets next month.
"The expectation that OPEC members will not increase output until their scheduled meeting next month, and rumors that the exporting group could keep its production target unchanged after the meeting, are supporting prices," Vienna's PVM Oil Associates said.
Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell US$1.38 to settle at US$75.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. While crude futures set new price records above US$78 this week, they ended the week US$1.54 a barrel, or 2 percent, lower.
September gasoline fell US$0.0072 to settle US$2.029 a gallon (US$0.53601 a liter) on the NYMEX after alternating several times between gains and losses. September Brent crude lost US$1.01 to settle at US$74.75 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
At the pump, meanwhile, US gasoline prices fell an additional US$0.007 overnight to a national average of US$2.858 a gallon, the AAA and the Oil Price Information Service said. Gas prices peaked at US$3.227 a gallon in late May, following futures higher on concerns refiners weren't making enough gas to meet demand.
Those concerns have since been relieved by several weeks of growing refinery output and rising gasoline inventories. Gas futures and retail prices have fallen steeply in recent weeks.
"The products market certainly has made its high for the season," said James Cordier, president of Liberty Trading Group in Tampa, Florida.
In other NYMEX trading, September heating oil fell US$0.0406 to settle at US$2.034 a gallon, and natural gas settled US$0.016 lower at US$6.09 per 1,000 cubic feet (US$0.21507 per cubic meter).
Oil prices tend to peak in the summer, then slide in the fall. Last year, for instance, oil dropped nearly US$20 between early August and early October.
This year, oil prices have run up to new records even as the fundamental market factors supporting them have eroded.
Declines in crude oil inventories as refineries increase output have been cited as a fundamental reason for the price increases. But many analysts criticize such reasoning.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last