Oil Continues to Fall as Fed Tapering Gets Jobless Claims Boost

West Texas Intermediate crude fell for a fifth day, the longest stretch of declines since December, as better-than-expected U.S. jobless claims raised concern that the Federal Reserve will trim stimulus measures.
Prices dropped as much as 1.1 percent. About 333,000 American workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, below the 335,000 estimate by economists in a Bloomberg survey. Applications for jobless claims, averaged over four weeks, slid to the fewest in five years. The Fed may begin curbing bond buying in September, Fed Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said Aug. 6. U.S. crude output jumped last week to the highest level since 1989, government data showed yesterday.

via Bloomberg

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