Oil falls below $70 in Europe as markets fret over growth outlook, await new US data

Oil falls below $70 amid Europe growth fears

Oil prices slid below $70 a barrel Thursday as protests in Greece renewed market concerns about Europe’s debt crisis and investors awaited new data on the U.S. economy.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for June delivery was down 57 cents to $69.30 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 46 cents to settle at $69.87 on Wednesday after dropping earlier in the session to $67.90, the lowest since September.

Crude has plunged from $87 a barrel earlier this month as a debt crisis in Europe has hammered the euro and threatens to undermine economic growth.

Unease about Europe’s sovereign debt troubles deepened as Greece witnessed its fourth general strike this year and thousands of protesters marched in Athens against the government’s austerity measures.

Later Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department will release weekly jobless claim figures and the Conference Board will post its leading indicators for April.

Analysts expect U.S. crude demand will likely remain sluggish until the unemployment rate falls.

“The overall tone of the oil complex remains quite weak,” Ritterbusch and Associates said in a report.

In other Nymex trading in June contracts, heating oil fell 1.48 cent to $1.93 a gallon, and gasoline was down 1.27 cent to $2 a gallon. Natural gas rose 2.9 cents to $4.19 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude July contact was down 81 cents to $72.88 on the ICE futures exchange.

Associated Press writer Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.