Oil prices drop

Oil prices fell in trading in New York, Thursday (19/04/2012) local time, following the U.S. Labor Department report that said filing applications for unemployment benefits and more-than-expected existing home sales fell.

Both of these are adding to worries the U.S. economic recovery will be long.

West Texas Intermediate oil price for delivery May shrank 40 cents to 102.27 dollars per barrel on the Nymex. It is the determination of the lowest price since 10 April 2012. Then, Brent oil for June dropped the determination of 3 cents to 118 dollars per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

U.S. Labor Department announced, actual unemployment claims fell 2,000. But their total number is still there 386 000 claims last week.

Meanwhile, a Bloomberg survey estimates that only 370 000 claims. On the other hand, according to the National Association of Realtors, in Washington, home sales fell 2.6 percent. Based on the figures, the annual level dropped to 4.48 million from 4.6 million in February.

"Jobless claims combined residential rate is evidence that the economy is still having a little trouble," said Phil Flynn, Vice President for Research PFGBest, in Chicago, Thursday. "The economy continued to grow but very uneven," added Phil.