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Oil slides below $112 ahead of US jobs data

Oil slid below $112 per barrel on Friday as investors awaited data that is expected to show US unemployment is on the rise, reinforcing concern that a fragile global economic recovery is still under threat.

A spate of gloomy figures has already shown a turnaround in China may be delayed and that the euro zone is almost certainly heading into recession. Crude futures fell 3-4 percent in a single, mid-week session on the figures from China, the world’s second-biggest oil consumer.

“Mainly it’s just investors remaining cautious ahead of the release of the US non-farm payrolls, so it’s a little bit of profit taking following yesterday’s gains,” said Myrto Sokou, senior analyst at Sucden Financial Research.

Brent futures fell more than $1 a barrel and by 0947 GMT were trading at $111.93 - down 65 cents.

US crude futures eased 74 cents to $90.97 per barrel, after climbing nearly 4 percent in the prior session.

TEST OF FED STRATEGY

Data from the United States this week suggested a nascent recovery, and investors are seeking further confirmation from the non-farm payrolls data due later in the day.

The United States likely added 113,000 jobs in September, up from 96,000 in August, with the unemployment rate edging up to 8.2 percent, according to a Reuters survey.

The data will be the first test of whether the Federal Reserve’s strategy to buy $40 billion in bonds every month from September to boost the labour market has started to bear any fruit.

“A bad non-farm payroll number would only likely have a negative impact on equity and commodities prices,” said Jason Schenker, president of research firm Prestige Economics.

“It is unlikely the Fed would act significantly in the wake of having done so much at the September meeting.”