( The start of the big fall ?. )
OIL prices plunged below US$65 (S$94.76) a barrel Monday in Asia as dismal unemployment figures from the US and Europe last week sparked investor concern about a nascent economic recovery.
Benchmark crude for August delivery fell US$2.50 to US$64.23 a barrel by late afternoon Singapore time, after earlier dropping as low as US$64.19, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It last settled on Thursday at US$66.73.
Trading was closed in the US on Friday for the Independence Day holiday.
Oil has tumbled from an eight-month high above US$73 a barrel last week after gloomy US consumer confidence and jobs numbers fuelled doubts about a rally that has doubled the price of crude since March.
'It's not looking too pretty in terms of economic data,' said Mr Christoffer Moltke-Leth, head of sales trading for Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore. 'The demand side fear is coming back into play.' A Labour Department report last week showed the US economy lost a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 per cent, a 26-year high. Unemployment in the 16 countries that use the euro spiked to a 10-year high in May, also at 9.5 per cent.
OIL prices plunged below US$65 (S$94.76) a barrel Monday in Asia as dismal unemployment figures from the US and Europe last week sparked investor concern about a nascent economic recovery.
Benchmark crude for August delivery fell US$2.50 to US$64.23 a barrel by late afternoon Singapore time, after earlier dropping as low as US$64.19, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It last settled on Thursday at US$66.73.
Trading was closed in the US on Friday for the Independence Day holiday.
Oil has tumbled from an eight-month high above US$73 a barrel last week after gloomy US consumer confidence and jobs numbers fuelled doubts about a rally that has doubled the price of crude since March.
'It's not looking too pretty in terms of economic data,' said Mr Christoffer Moltke-Leth, head of sales trading for Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore. 'The demand side fear is coming back into play.' A Labour Department report last week showed the US economy lost a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 per cent, a 26-year high. Unemployment in the 16 countries that use the euro spiked to a 10-year high in May, also at 9.5 per cent.
