By John M. Biers
Oil prices tumbled Friday after the U.S. labor department
released jobs data that fell short of expectations.
Oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell from $85.72
per barrel at 8:29 a.m. ET, just before the data release, to $84.37
at 8:51 a.m. ET, and are now continuing to trend lower.
"It's a horrendous number," said analyst Stephen Schork. "It's
extremely bearish for oil prices with the impression being the
economy is sucking wind."
Nonfarm payrolls grew by 80,000 last month, the Labor Department
said Friday. The politically important unemployment rate, obtained
by a separate survey of U.S. households, was unchanged at 8.2%.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a gain
of 100,000 in payrolls and the steady June jobless rate.
- Write to John Biers at john.biers@dowjones.com
(Jeffrey Sparshott contributed to this report)