OIL prices fell yesterday after disappointing economic news fanned speculation about what steps the Federal Reserve may take to bolster the U.S. economy.

Benchmark crude lost 32 cents to settle at US$82.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Trading was volatile with the November contract expiring yesterday.

Speculation among traders and investors is intensifying about what the Fed might do next month to boost the economy following two government reports that showed jobless claims rose last week for the first time in three weeks and wholesale prices edged up.

The increase in claims for unemployment benefits is a sign that employers are not adding workers, and unemployment is one of the key issues the Fed will consider when looking at ways to help the economy.

The Labor Department said the producer price index, which measures prices at the wholesale level, increased 0.4 percent in September. Moderate price inflation allows the Federal Reserve to keep the short-term interest rate it controls at a record low of nearly zero. Low inflation also makes it more likely the Fed will launch another effort to lower longer-term rates by purchasing Treasury bonds.

Speculation about Fed moves has contributed to a weaker dollar against other currencies over the past month. Since commodities are priced in dollars, traders using other currencies can buy more product and that has boosted oil prices.

Meanwhile, the Energy Department said yesterday that supplies of oil, gasoline and distillates fell last week. Crude inventories dropped by 400,000 barrels to 360.5 million barrels, gasoline stockpiles fell 1.8 million barrels to 218.2 million barrels and distillates, which include heating fuel and diesel, shrank by 300,000 barrels to 172.2 million barrels.

Platts senior oil analyst Linda Rafield said crude stocks fell because imports dropped to an eight-and-a-half month low, allowing inventories to decline. Rafield also pointed out that U.S. oil demand fell to the lowest level since the first week of December 2009, "in line with weakness of the economy."

Declining inventories give traders "additional reason to believe that the highest inventories are behind us," Cameron Hanover energy consulting agency said in a report. "We still feel that this market complex wants to move higher, if it can find any reasonable reason to do so."

Natural gas inventories grew by 91 billion cubic feet to 3.59 trillion cubic feet for the week ended Oct. 8, according to the Energy Information Administration. Natural gas lost 3.9 cents to settle at US$3.657 per 1,000 cubic feet on the Nymex.

In other energy trading, heating oil gave up 1.68 cents to settle at US$2.2839 a gallon and gasoline dropped 2.96 cents to settle at US$2.1365 a gallon.

In London, Brent crude fell 11 cents to settle at US$84.53 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• federal [´fedərəl] a.联邦的，联邦制的 (初中英语单词)
• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
• barrel [´bærəl] n.(琵琶)桶；圆筒 (初中英语单词)
• moderate [´mɔdərit] a.适度的n.温和主义者 (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• pointed [´pɔintid] a.尖(锐)的；中肯的 (初中英语单词)
• weakness [´wi:knis] n.虚弱；弱点，缺点 (初中英语单词)
• agency [´eidʒənsi] n.代理商；机构；代理 (初中英语单词)
• complex [´kɔmpleks] a.复杂的 n.综合企业 (初中英语单词)
• reasonable [´rizənəbəl] a.合理的；有理智的 (初中英语单词)
• administration [əd,minis´treiʃən] n.管理(事务等)；经营 (初中英语单词)
• speculation [,spekju´leiʃən] n.思索，推测；投机 (高中英语单词)
• unemployment [,ʌnim´plɔimənt] n.失业；失业人数 (高中英语单词)
• producer [prə´dju:sə] n.生产者；演出人 (高中英语单词)
• launch [lɔ:ntʃ] vt.发动 n.发射；汽艇 (高中英语单词)
• gasoline [´gæsəli:n] n.汽油 (高中英语单词)
• senior [´si:niə] a.年长的 n.前辈 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• gallon [´gælən] n.加伦 (高中英语单词)
• wholesale [´həulseil] n.&vt.批发 a.批发的 (英语四级单词)
• shrank [ʃræŋk] shrink的过去式 (英语六级单词)
• hanover [´hænəvə] n.汉诺威 (英语六级单词)