Oil Prices Sink on Unemployment Report

Oil prices sunk this morning after posting their biggest gains in three weeks on Thursday in response to plans agreed to at the G20 summit aimed at stimulating the global economy.  New US unemployment data released today by the Labor Department showed US 663,000 jobs lost in March, lifting the unemployment rate to 8.5 percent, the highest since 1983.  The department also revised unemployment data for January of this year, showing 741,000 job losses that month, the most jobs lost since October of 1949.

The negative employment data brought concerns over sagging US oil demand back into focus, fueling fears that economic recovery may still be a long way off.  At 9:10 am EDT, the price of crude had slipped 1.8 percent to $51.69 a barrel and the price of heating oil had fallen 1.6 percent.

HEAT USA price experts expected a leveling-off of wholesale prices today that would bring about a small-to-moderate decrease in Monday’s retail prices.

HEAT USA Price Report
Today’s average retail heating oil price per gallon: NO CHANGE
Morning projection (for Monday’s average retail price per gallon): DOWN $0.02