Oil Finishes Week Over $85 a Barrel
Oil fell 34 cents Friday, finishing the New York Mercantile Exchange trading week at $85.38 a barrel, Bloomberg reported.
Crude futures slipped to $85.31 on the Nymex after rising slightly earlier on a report of higher retail sales in July, Bloomberg said. Oil later dropped on a report that consumer confidence hit its lowest level since 1980.
Futures had closed Tuesday at $79.30 a barrel, marking the first time since September they have finished below $80, Bloomberg figures showed.
Oil downturns Monday and Tuesday were pegged to the week’s wildly flucuating Dow Jones Industrial Average, which alternately fell, then rose, by more than 400 points each day from Monday through Thursday.
Oil bounced almost $3 higher on Thursday — rising with the Dow, which jumped 423 points — to finish at $85.72 a barrel.
Diesel fuel’s pump price has declined for two straight weeks, to its latest $3.897 national average, while gasoline fell this week for the first time since June, to $3.674 a gallon.
