Crude still set to gain more than 11% for October as dollar slumps By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures dipped on Friday after a 3.1% surge in the previous session on news the U.S. economy returned to growth, as a mixed batch of economic reports led traders to reassess the outlook for energy demand. Crude oil for December delivery was recently down 80 cents, or 1%, at $79.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Still, oil has gained more than 11% so far in October, helped by a weakening dollar and hopes of a resurgence in global economic activity. News that U.S. consumer spending fell sharply in September added to pressure in early trade. Meanwhile, two measures of inflation, the Employment Cost Index and personal consumption expenditure, both came in as expected. See story on spending. More upbeat reports on consumer sentiment and regional manufacturing failed to reverse selling pressure. The University of Michigan/Reuters revised its October reading on consumer sentiment to 70.6, from its previous estimate of 64.4, a bit higher than economists expected. See full story. And the Chicago purchasing managers index rose to 54.2% from 46.1% in September, according to a survey of corporate purchasing managers released Friday. Readings over 50% indicate overall business expansion. Oil prices surged 3.1% on Thursday after data showed that the U.S. economy expanded at a 3.5% annualized pace in the third quarter. The increase in gross domestic product was the first in a year and the strongest growth in two years. "There are still concerns over the strength of the recovery -- oil demand has been sluggish, illustrated by recent stock data, and oil producers have posted weak earnings reports as a result," said analysts at Action Economics. U.S. stocks also gave back some of their sharp gains from Thursday's session, with the Dow industrials (INDU 9,868, -95.07, -0.95%) recently down about 70 points. Likewise, the dollar gave back some ground as investors sought the safety of the near- zero-yield currency. See Currencies. Also on Globex, November reformulated gasoline futures fell 4 cents, or 2.2%, to $1.97 a gallon, while November heating oil fell 4 cents to $1.97 a gallon. Both contracts will expire at the end of trading on Friday. December natural-gas futures, meanwhile, bucked the trend, rising 15 cent to $5.21 per million British thermal units.

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