* Non-farm payrolls data much worse than expected
* GM and Ford report large losses
* U.S. employers cut 240,000 jobs in October
(Updates with settlement prices)
By Edward McAllister
NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Oil rose slightly on Friday as
the dollar slumped following bleak employment data in the
United States, the world's top energy consumer.
U.S. crude <CLc1> settled up 27 cents to $61.04 a barrel
off earlier highs of $62.82 a barrel. London Brent crude for
December <LCOc1> settled down 8 cents at $57.35 a barrel.
Despite Friday's gains, prices are down nearly ten percent
this week, having fallen $6.77.
Oil prices have dived nearly 60 percent from record highs
of over $147 dollars per barrel in July, as the global economic
crisis has hit the wider economy, shrinking demand in major
consumer nations.
The U.S. dollar on Friday eased against a basket of
currencies after government data showed U.S. employers cut
payrolls by 240,000 in October. In addition, data showed
September registered the biggest monthly loss in jobs in nearly
seven years.
The Labor Department said the U.S. unemployment rate shot
up to 6.5 percent from 6.1 percent in September, the highest
since March 1994. Wall Street economists had previously
estimated that 200,000 U.S. jobs had been lost in October.
"Crude oil futures, like the stock market, are hanging in
there. People came in today amid worries that the jobless data
would crush the markets, but they haven't," said Andy Lebow,
broker at MF Global, New York.
"But despite that, the data looks pretty downbeat. The
crude oil market has to look at the fact that we're losing jobs
and that ultimately will have an impact on petroleum demand."
In New York, the ICE Futures' dollar index <.DXY>, a
measure of the greenback's value against a basket of six
currencies, traded around 0.1 percent lower this afternoon.
A weaker dollar makes oil cheaper for holders of other
currencies and tends to support prices.
"Seems like the weaker dollar is what gave us the bounce,"
said Tom Bentz, analyst at BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc.
However, the dollar's retreat was offset by a rise in
stocks on Friday as investors bought beaten-down sectors.
[]
U.S. automakers General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co
reported billions in losses on Friday, far deeper than
expected, as car sales slumped with consumers tightening belts
in the face of what analysts are now calling a serious
recession. []
Oil's tumble from July highs has already spurred OPEC to
rein in supply from Nov. 1, and some members of the cartel are
talking of reducing production further.
Venezuela's oil minister Rafael Ramirez has said OPEC
should act again. "We say (a new cut should be) at least a
million," he told Reuters on Thursday. []
But Shokri Ghanem, Libya's top oil official, said the group
was not actively considering cutting output again. []
OPEC is due to meet next on December 17.
(Additional reporting by Matthew Robinson, Gene Ramos, and
Robert Gibbons in New York, Christopher Johnson and Jane
Merriman in London and Fayen Wong in Perth; Editing by
Christian Wiessner)
