Commodities: Crude slides 4%, gold firms

Date: Monday 07 Jun 2010

Crude oil futures fell over 4% on Friday as US stocks tumbled more than 300 points on fresh concern about the euro and weaker than expected US jobs figures.

Crude for July delivery fell $3.10 to $71.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Wall Street’s slide was triggered by Labor Department figures that showed weakness in the private sector. The number of Americans on company payrolls rose by 431,000 last month however most of the increase was due to the hiring of temporary workers to carry out the US census.

The unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 9.7%, down from 9.9% in April and less than expectations for 9.8%, helped by a drop in employment of 35,000. Unemployment was down 287,000 to 15m.

Meanwhile the euro sank below $1.20, a fresh four-year low, after comments from the spokesman for Hungary's PM Viktor Orban, Peter Szijjarto. “It’s clear that the economy is in a very grave situation. It’s not an exaggeration at all to talk about a default.”

Among precious metals gold settled higher on Friday after weaker than expected job figures weighed on most other commodities.

Gold for August delivery closed $7.70 higher at $1217.70 an ounce on the Comex divison of the New York Mercantile Exchange.