Oil prices fell today after US job growth stalled in August, raising the spectre of economic recession in the world's top oil consumer.
US nonfarm payrolls were unchanged last month, the Labour Department said today. The weakest job reading in a year bucked economists' expectations for a gain of 75,000 jobs.
Stunted job growth may weigh on fuel demand, although it could also raise the odds of more asset buying, or quantitative easing (QE), by the US Federal Reserve, analysts said.
By late afternoon, Brent was trading 82 cents lower at $113.47 a barrel and US crude was down $1.63 lower at $87.30, after dipping as low as $85.42 earlier.
New stimulus aimed at staving off a US recession may include the Fed extending the maturity of its Treasuries holdings following a policy meeting slated for Sept. 20-21, economists said.
Today's oil price rout wiped out part of US crude's 4.1% gain in the week to yesterday, when it had settled at a one-month high, in part due to a tropical storm threat in the US Gulf of Mexico.
Europe's Brent crude remained at a near-record premium of more than $26 a barrel to US benchmark West Texas Intermediate today.
