Crude oil fell for a third day in New York on concern an economic slowdown in the U.S. will reduce demand and as the dollar rose, prompting investors to sell the commodity.
The dollar's first weekly gain against the euro in a month last week triggered an exodus from commodities after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates. U.S. consumer spending slowed in February and home sales continued to drop, economists said before reports this week.
``Investors are re-allocating assets and taking profit from commodities to offset earlier losses from equities,'' said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager at Astmax Co. in Tokyo. ``On the fundamentals side, things are gloomy with demand to drop.''
Crude oil for May delivery declined as much as $1.64, or 1.6 percent, to $100.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded at $100.53 a barrel at 9:56 a.m. Singapore time. While New York crude oil fell 7.6 percent last week, it's still up 60 percent from a year ago.
The dollar rose to $1.5405 against the euro at 8:49 a.m. Singapore time from $1.5433 on March 21.
The threat of recession and a credit freeze caused the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut its main lending rate by three-quarters of a percentage point on March 18.
Total U.S. implied fuel demand for the four weeks ended March 14 dropped 3.2 percent from a year earlier, the Energy Department said on March 19.
The dollar's first weekly gain against the euro in a month last week triggered an exodus from commodities after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates. U.S. consumer spending slowed in February and home sales continued to drop, economists said before reports this week.
``Investors are re-allocating assets and taking profit from commodities to offset earlier losses from equities,'' said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager at Astmax Co. in Tokyo. ``On the fundamentals side, things are gloomy with demand to drop.''
Crude oil for May delivery declined as much as $1.64, or 1.6 percent, to $100.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded at $100.53 a barrel at 9:56 a.m. Singapore time. While New York crude oil fell 7.6 percent last week, it's still up 60 percent from a year ago.
The dollar rose to $1.5405 against the euro at 8:49 a.m. Singapore time from $1.5433 on March 21.
The threat of recession and a credit freeze caused the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut its main lending rate by three-quarters of a percentage point on March 18.
Total U.S. implied fuel demand for the four weeks ended March 14 dropped 3.2 percent from a year earlier, the Energy Department said on March 19.
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