Crude Oil Falls to Six-Week Low on Signs Recovery Is Slowing
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Crude oil declined to six-week low as rising U.S. jobless claims and a contraction in manufacturing added to concern growth in the world’s biggest oil-consuming nation is slowing.
Oil, down 2.4 percent this week, fell after the Labor Department said yesterday weekly claims for unemployment benefits climbed to the highest level since November. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index dropped to the lowest reading since July 2009. Total U.S. inventories of crude and oil products reached the highest in at least 20 years, Energy Department data showed earlier this week.