* Euro hit 10-month low against dollar ahead of EU summit
* U.S. jobless claims fall, buoy jobs recovery hopes
* Coming up: CFTC trade data on Friday
(Recasts, updates prices, adds detail, market activity)
By Edward McAllister
NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell slightly on
Thursday as the euro weakened against the dollar after the
European Central Bank president said that, if the International
Monetary Fund took responsibility for bailing out Greece, it
would send a negative message.
Jean-Claude Trichet, who spoke ahead of a European Union
summit in Brussels, where EU leaders were hoping to reach an
agreement on helping debt-stricken Greece, said that, if the
IMF took the lead in aiding Greece, it would reflect badly on
Europe's ability to handle its own problems.
U.S. crude for May delivery <CLc1> fell 8 cents to settle
at $80.53 a barrel, after earlier rising to $81.48. In London,
Brent crude for May <LCOc1> lost 1 cent to settle at $79.61 a
barrel.
"Trichet's comments caused the euro to drop and crude
pulled back," said Chris Dillman, an analyst at Tradition
Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
The euro fell to a 10-month low against the dollar. It
swung between gains and losses through most of the global
session, rising as investors bet the EU summit could lead to a
potential aid package for Greece, and then falling after
Trichet's comments.
A stronger dollar can indicate that investors are moving
money away from assets deemed more risky like commodities and
equities, which tends to pressure crude prices.
"Investors were watching Brussels today -- and will
continue to focus on it tomorrow -- in the hope that some
concrete type of assistance will be thrashed out over the
sovereign debt issue," said Peter Beutel, president of Cameron
Hanover in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Crude found support earlier from data showing the number of
U.S. workers filing for jobless aid fell sharply last week,
according to the Labor Department. A gauge of underlying labor
market trends hit its lowest in 1-1/2 years, signaling that the
economy could be on the verge of creating jobs. []
U.S. stocks rose sharply, driving the Dow and S&P 500
indexes to new 18-month highs as Qualcomm and Best Buy boosted
their profit outlooks and financials surged for a second day.
Oil prices fell on Wednesday after mixed U.S. data showed a
larger-than-expected build in crude stocks but a fall in oil
product inventories, leaving lingering doubts over the strength
of demand recovery in the world's largest energy user. []
But oil prices failed to break below the recent trading
range, allowing some recovery on Thursday.
"There is a stickiness keeping prices above $80," said
Amrita Sen, an analyst at Barclays Capital. "I think the
inventory data was pretty neutral. The headline figure on crude
was bearish for the oil price but the product numbers were
pretty strong."
Oil inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key U.S. crude
oil hub, rose by 754,739 barrels to 31.8 million barrels in the
week to March 23, according to a report from energy industry
data provider Genscape released on Thursday. []
Demand for crude in Europe weakened sharply in January,
down by 1.55 million barrels per day from a year earlier,
Barclays Capital said, citing data published by the Joint Oil
Data Initiative.
Economic data in the euro zone painted a mixed picture,
with manufacturing activity growing in March at its fastest
pace since the end of 2006, but industrial orders in January
fell, underscoring the fragility of the economic recovery.
[] []
Japan's commercial crude inventories rose 4 percent last
week to their highest level in almost eight months, industry
data showed on Thursday, ahead of scheduled refinery
maintenance in the coming months. []
(Additional reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons in New
York, Joe Brock in London, Alejandro Barbajosa in Singapore;
Editing by Walter Bagley)
