Oil Tumbles to Below $100 a Barrel

Crude oil tumbled almost $10 to below $100 a barrel Thursday as commodities dropped the most in two years on concern that economic growth will slow, Bloomberg reported.

Oil fell $9.44 to close the trading day at $99.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the first time it has been below $100 since mid-March.

The plunge followed a Labor Department report that said applications for jobless benefits rose to the highest level since August, a signal that fuel demand may drop, Bloomberg said.

Crude futures have slipped 12% this week, and the Thursday’s drop was the biggest single-day decline on the Nymex since April 20, 2009.

But prices are 25% higher than a year ago, and crude futures have has risen almost 10% this year, primarily on concerns about Middle East unrest, Bloomberg reported.

The Department of Energy said Wednesday oil inventories rose 3.4 million barrels, to a six-month high, last week.