Crude falls 1.8% as economic worries weigh

[MoneyGuy]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude futures closed down 1.8% a barrel Friday, extending oil's weekly losses to 4.8%, as worries continued that weak economic growth will reduce oil consumption. Crude oil for September delivery fell $2.23, or 1.8%, to end at $123.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude has fallen seven out of nine sessions since it closed at a record high of $145.18 a barrel on July 14.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~a/marketwatch/marketpulse?i=uvo5Uj (http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~a/marketwatch/marketpulse?a=uvo5Uj)

http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~f/marketwatch/marketpulse?i=uymEAJ (http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~f/marketwatch/marketpulse?a=uymEAJ) http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~f/marketwatch/marketpulse?i=rWriej (http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~f/marketwatch/marketpulse?a=rWriej) http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~f/marketwatch/marketpulse?i=8xUQ4j (http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~f/marketwatch/marketpulse?a=8xUQ4j) http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~f/marketwatch/marketpulse?i=NuDnwJ (http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~f/marketwatch/marketpulse?a=NuDnwJ)
http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~r/marketwatch/marketpulse/~4/345932220

More... (http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~r/marketwatch/marketpulse/~3/345932220/story.aspx)

[Fotno]

Speculators suck.

[threekidspa]

They sure do! They're the worst kind of trader there is.

[BassCatter]

I hope they are loosing their collective arses right now, holding Sweet Crude Futures and watching the price fall.

[Guru]

Speculators have been around for awhile but it used to be the guys that had a gut instinct on how something would pan, make their purchases and hold on until the end of the cycle and rake in their earnings.
The new speculators drive the market hysterically and now nothing can be effectively invested in unless you play the same game they do or put your funds in very conservative vouchers.
When your investments can drop in excess of what the best of middle America makes, and do that in a quarter, that is beyond acceptable.

All that said, the barrel price and the pump price do not follow even the speculators on the way down, only up.
I wish I had a report of the true volumn decline in the last month to two months.