Oil dropped for a second day, erasing most of its weekly gain in London, after U.S. Federal Reserve officials signaled the winding down of a stimulus program this year in the world's biggest crude user, Bloomberg reported.
Brent crude dropped as much as 1.6%, trimming its weekly increase to 0.4%. Futures pared some of today's loss after data showed payrolls increased by 155,000 workers in the U.S. last month, compared with an estimated 152,000. The unemployment rate held at 7.8%. Members of the Federal Open Market Committee said they will probably end their US$85 billion monthly bond purchases sometime in 2013, according to minutes of its latest meeting released yesterday.
Brent for February settlement slid as much as $1.76 to $110.38 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It traded for $111.02 at 1.38 p.m. local time.
West Texas Intermediate for February delivery fell as much as $1.40 to $91.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The graded has added 1.4% this week. Brent was $18.82 more than WTI, compared with $19.27 yesterday.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
