* Fed Chairman Bernanke's speech in Wyoming awaited
* Technicals show price in $72.50-$74 range []
* Coming Up: Revised U.S. GDP 2nd quarter; 1230 GMT
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Oil snapped a two-day rally
on Friday, heading for a third straight week of losses as a
forecast downgrade in U.S. economic growth fed disquiet over
record oil inventories and weak housing and manufacturing data.
Friday's negative sentiment eclipsed a positive U.S. jobs
report on Thursday, which helped boost front-month U.S. crude
by almost 1.2 percent. It also sent the Nikkei down towards a
16-month low.
U.S. crude for delivery in October fell 33 cents to $73.03
a barrel by 0256 GMT, after touching an intraday trough of
$70.76 on Wednesday, the lowest price since early June. Prices
have slid about $10 from a peak near $83 on Aug. 4.
"The fundamental picture is very negative," said Jonathan
Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services in
Sydney.
"If you get suportive data in terms of GDP and stimulus,
prices could go to the top of the trading range, but if it
comes lower than expected, the environment is so negative that
we could see a break of $70."
On Friday, the U.S. government is expected to revise
second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth lower to an
annual pace of 1.4 percent from 2.4 percent, a Reuters survey
shows.
In a Friday speech to fellow central bankers, U.S. Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is likely to discuss the
uncertain prospects for the economy, but is not expected to
give many clues about whether the central bank will pump more
cash into the economy to keep the recovery going.
[]
GROWTH CONCERNS
Reports on Wednesday showed new U.S. home sales slumped to
the slowest pace on record in July and orders for costly
durable goods were weak, heightening fears the economy was at
risk of another downturn. []
Weakness in the consumer sector has slowed energy demand
growth in the United States, the world's top oil user. Thus the
nation's total petroleum inventories have soared to their
highest levels since weekly records began in 1990.
Bloating U.S. inventories are depressing prices of U.S.
benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude relative to North Sea
Brent. The premium of front-month Brent futures over
front-month WTI jumped to as high as $1.80 on Thursday, the
widest since early June, receding to about $1.65 on Friday.
October ICE Brent <LCOc1> slid 38 cents to $74.64 on
Friday.
Front-month U.S. crude is also trading at steeper discounts
to contracts for the following months, a market structure known
as contango. For a graphic, http://link.reuters.com/nuj57n
Although new U.S. jobless claims fell more than expected
last week, they were too high to signal a shift in a weak
labour market that is constraining economic growth.
[]
Japan's Nikkei average fell 1 percent on Friday, with
technology shares and exporters lower after Wall Street slid a
day earlier on nervousness about the economic outlook, sending
U.S. shares to seven-week lows. []
Tropical Storm Earl in the eastern Atlantic Ocean continued
to move westward on Thursday, with the U.S. National Hurricane
Center still expecting the system to become the season's third
hurricane by Saturday. []
Early computer models still show the storm moving west and
the northwest, away from key oil and gas producing areas in the
Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Danielle, which strengthened to
Category 2, was also expected to stay in the Atlantic.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
