The price of oil slipped to near $96 a barrel Monday after some soft Chinese economic figures and ahead of a U.S. central bank meeting later this week that may see more money injected into the U.S. economy.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for October delivery was down 26 cents to $96.16 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 89 cents to finish at $96.42 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.
In London, Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, was up 51 cents at $114.76 on the ICE Futures exchange. The contract rose 76 cents to end at $114.25 on Friday.
The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that employers added 96,000 jobs in August, fewer than experts had expected. Construction and manufacturing are also slowing.
Due to the slumping data, many analysts now expect the U.S. Federal Reserve bank to unveil a new bond-buying program at its meeting later this week.
The goal would be to lower long-term interest rates and encourage borrowing and spending, although experts question how much of a long-term effect it would have on the economy since interest rates are already so low.
"Friday's U.S. job's report was much worse than even the dismal headline numbers suggest," said oil analyst Stephen Schork, noting that job gains for July and June were revised downward.
Chinese trade data released Monday showed a surprising fall in imports, a possible sign that the country's economy is slowing further and renewing expectations of a fresh round of stimulus spending.
While China has been the main driving force behind growing global oil demand, its oil imports were down 12.5 percent on an annual basis in August, though still up 7.4 percent on the year during the first eight months of 2013.
A stronger dollar also weighed on prices by making crude more expensive for traders using other currencies. The euro was down to $1.2778 on Monday from $1.2818 on Friday.
In other energy futures trading on the Nymex, wholesale gasoline rose 0.86 cent to $3.0282 a gallon. Heating oil was up 1.17 cents to $3.1606 a gallon. Natural gas lost 0.7 cent to $2.675 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.
