Friday, May 20, 2011
Associated Press
NEW YORK
Oil dropped below $99 a barrel Thursday, but it’s still too high as far as the International Energy Agency is concerned.
The IEA, based in Paris, said that even after falling about 13 percent since the beginning of May, petroleum products continue to take a large share of household and business spending around the world and threaten to stall the global economic recovery. The agency warned that there’s “urgent need” for refineries to produce more gasoline and bring down pump prices.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery fell $1.66 to settle at $98.44 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The June contract ends today, and most trading has switched to the July contract, which lost $1.63 to settle at $98.93 per barrel.
Lackluster economic news Thursday helped pushed down crude along with the IEA report. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its measure of manufacturing activity slumped to the lowest reading since October. And the National Association of Realtors said the housing market remains weak as fewer people purchased previously occupied homes in April.
On the positive side, the Labor Department reported that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell sharply for the second-straight week.
Meanwhile, retail gasoline prices continue to fall, losing another 2 cents Thursday to a national average of $3.905 per gallon. Experts say gasoline should get cheaper toward the Memorial Day weekend and drop to an average of $3.50 per gallon by June.