Earnings, IEA report, US confidence all hurt oil prices

The price of crude oil was lower Friday to end the week 10.3 percent lower than it began on concerns about what kind of news quarterly earnings reports, which are just beginning to come in, will say about the economy.

Some analysts and investors are worried that if household items manufacturers and retailers post declines, it will indicate that there will also be less demand for oil and oil products.

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was 52 cents lower to $59.89 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude dropped 58 cents to $60.52 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

It was the lowest close for a WTI front-month contract in nearly two months, with prices falling 10.3 percent just this week.

Also hurting prices was a report on US consumer sentiment which showed it down to 64.6 in early July from 70.8 in June, more of a decline than had been expected.

In addition, the International Energy Agency said it believes energy demand will fall 2.9 percent this year, although it also said that higher demand in developing countries will make up for falling demand in the West and in Japan to help global demand rise by 1.7 percent next year.

Nymex August gasoline futures were down a cent to $1.65 per gallon and August natural gas dropped 4 cents to $3.37 per million British thermal units, while August heating oil held steady at $1.53 per gallon.