U.S. crude futures extended losses on Friday as sluggish economic indicators raised doubts about the sustainability of a recent acceleration in demand growth by top oil consumer the United States. Jobless claims in the U.S. unexpectedly increased last week as the manufacturing, construction and education sectors shed workers, a report showed on Thursday. Factory activity growth braked to its slowest pace in 10 months in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region in June, raising concerns that an anemic U.S. economic recovery is faltering. U.S. light, sweet crude fell 21 cents to $76.58 in Asian trade, after settling down 88 cents at $76.79 a day earlier. That was down 12 percent from an early-May 19-month peak above $87, even after an 18 percent recovery from a trough below $65 on May 20. "There is still an element of caution," said David Moore, an analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"U.S. economic data is quite uneven and that's raised doubts about the robustness of the economic recovery. Fundamentally, the market is not tight. Inventories are high and there is surplus capacity," Moore said. But London Brent crude shrugged off the weak economic statistics, supported by easing concern about Spain's sovereign debt woes. August Brent gained 2 cents on Friday to $78.70 after rising on Thursday. Spain's Treasury does not need to sell any more bonds to deal with a 24 billion euro ($29.43 billion) bout of debt repayments in July, an economy ministry source said on Thursday. U.S. stocks rose in a late rally on Thursday, while European shares and the euro gained on reassuring demand for Spanish government bonds. Japan's Nikkei average edged up 0.2 percent on Friday, climbing back towards a one-month high hit earlier in the week.
Brimming crude stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma pricing point for WTI, which rose 200,000 barrels to 37.6 million barrels last week, put additional pressure on U.S. crude prices relative to European benchmark Brent, analysts including Moore said. Comparing August contracts, WTI was trading about 80 cents lower than Brent on Friday. The front-month July WTI contract is likely to behave more erratically as it nears expiry on June 22. "Often these things occur when there are high levels of liquidity at Cushing," Moore said. "WTI expiry is getting close and you normally get some changes in positions."
U.S. lawmakers accused BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward of evasion and ducking responsibility for the worst oil spill in U.S. history when he appeared before them on Thursday to answer charges his company cut corners on its blown-out Gulf of Mexico well.
