Crude Oil Drops To $77 Per Barrel As Dollar Rises

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Crude oil prices finished sharply lower on Friday as a notable decline in equities raised concerns about the prospects for energy demand. A stronger dollar also lessened oil's hedge appeal.

Light sweet crude for December dropped to $77.00 per barrel, down $2.87 on the session. Prices fell as low as $76.85 after earlier reaching as high as $80.21.

The dollar bounced back versus the euro and recovered most of yesterday's losses. The greenback also moved mildly higher versus the pound.

On the economic front, a Commerce Department report showed that personal spending fell by 0.5 percent in September following an upwardly revised 1.4 percent increase in August. The moderate pullback in personal spending came in line with the expectations of economists.

Additionally, the Commerce Department said that personal income decreased by less than 0.1 percent in September after edging up by a revised 0.1 percent in the previous month. Economists had expected income to be unchanged.

A Institute for Supply Management - Chicago report showed that the index of activity in the manufacturing sector rose to 54.2 in October from 46.1 in September, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector. Economists had been expecting the index to increase to a reading of 49.0.

Reuters and the University of Michigan report showed that the consumer sentiment index was revised up to 70.6 from the preliminary October reading of 69.4, although it remained below 73.5 in September. Economists had been expecting the index to be revised up to a reading of 70.0.

Oil prices dropped $2.64 on the week, which included an Energy Information Administration report that gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly rose 1.7 million barrels last week, according to the Energy Information.

Crude oil inventories rose just 800,000 barrels in the week ending October 23. Economists were looking for a much bigger build of 1.8 million barrels.

(Market News Provided by RTTNews)