NEW YORK -- Crude-oil futures fell Thursday as a stronger dollar and an uncertain economic outlook foiled another run at $80 a barrel.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery recently traded 56 cents, or 0.7%, lower at $79.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 45 cents, or 0.6%, lower at $79.02 a barrel.
Oil's surge up to $82 a barrel in late October is starting to look like a more tentative step, amid uncertainty about the pace of the recovery in the world economy. Crude futures have traded up to, and even over, $80 a barrel many times over the last few weeks, only to see weak U.S. oil demand or high global inventories give investors cold feet.
December futures reached as high as $79.87 a barrel Thursday before backing off. Tellingly, oil prices failed to hold above $80 a barrel even as the dollar weakened to nearly $1.50 to a euro. Big moves weaker by the U.S. currency have in the past boosted oil by making the dollar-denominated currency cheaper for holders of other currencies.
"The bulls had their best shot this week yesterday ... information like we had yesterday has generated $2 rallies," said Peter Beutel, president of the trading advisory firm Cameron Hanover. "They didn't do that yesterday, and to my mind that's a sign that they've lost a step here."
The dollar rebounded to $1.4872 per euro recently, helping to send oil futures lower.
Weekly unemployment data from the U.S. Labor Department offered little incentive to make a more permanent move above $80 a barrel. Weekly jobless claims were unchanged last week at 505,000, where economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had anticipated an increase of 4,000 claims.
Unemployment appears to be leveling off after rising for more than a year, but the oil market is still waiting for the recovery to raise demand and reduce a glut of oil and fuel. On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Department reported a 900,000-barrel decline in oil inventories, though a slight increase in demand had less to do with the drop than Tropical Storm Ida disrupting tanker traffic along the Gulf Coast.
Distillate stocks, including diesel and heating oil, fell by 300,000 barrels, less than expected, while gasoline inventories dropped 1.8 million barrels, compared with a 100,000-barrel increase predicted in a Dow Jones survey of analysts.
The across-the-board declines still left all three categories well above normal.
"While economic news has been mostly positive the poor fundamentals of the oil market are limiting the upside," wrote analysts with JBC Energy in Vienna.
Front-month December reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, recently traded 7 points higher at $2.0121 a gallon. December heating oil recently traded 51 points, or 0.3%, lower at $2.0435 a gallon.
