Crude oil fell to a five-month low as the dollar climbed and U.S. unemployment rose more than expected, signaling a slowdown in demand. Oil declined 8 percent this week, the most since July, as the dollar rose to the highest this year against the euro. Payrolls fell in the U.S., the world's biggest energy-consuming country, the Labor Department said today. U.S. fuel demand during the past four weeks was down 3.5% from a year ago, the Energy Department said.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the supplier of 40% of the world's oil, will meet to discuss production and prices on Sept. 9 in Vienna. Venezuela and Iran have made calls to trim supply because prices have dropped 28% from the record $147.27 reached July 11. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer and OPEC's most influential member, hasn't said what its position on production will be at the meeting. The desert kingdom decided to unilaterally raise output by 500,000 barrels a day during June and July to curb the rise in oil prices.

Crude oil for October delivery fell to settle at $106.23 a barrel, the lowest close since April 4. Oil has dropped six straight days, the longest stretch since April 30, 2007, through May 7, 2007. Prices are 41% higher than a year ago. Brent crude oil for October settlement fell to $104.09 a barrel, the lowest settlement since April 3. Brent has dropped seven straight days for the first time since December 2006.

Gold fell as the dollar strengthened, eroding the appeal of precious metals as alternative assets. Gold has declined 22% from a March 17 record of $1,033.90 an ounce. Gold futures for December delivery fell to $802.80 an ounce. The metal slipped 3.9% last week.
Copper tumbled, capping the biggest weekly drop since January 2007, as climbing stockpiles and slowing global growth signaled demand for the metal may decline. Copper has dropped 27% since reaching a record in May. Copper futures for December delivery sank to $6,900 a metric ton. Copper dropped 8.5% for the week. The price has gained 3.4% this year.

Wall Street stocks were mixed on Friday after a rally in financials helped soften news that the unemployment rate reached a five-year high in August. The modest recovery on Friday brought to an end a volatile holiday-shortened week during which the the S&P 500 fell 3.2% as fears returned about the health of the global economy. That was the index’s third weekly drop and its biggest loss since February.

Financials were among the biggest casualties but climbed strongly, adding 3.2% amid speculation Blackstone Group and KKR, would buy some businesses from Lehman Brothers’ as part of a deal worth around $5bn. Lehman Brothers rose 6.8%. Selling was widespread, though sectors and companies most exposed to the prospect of a global slowdown were particularly badly hit. Industrials, materials and technology fell 3.9%, 5.4% and 6.5% respectively.

Among industrials, Terex was a big faller after the maker of construction and mining equipment cut its sales and profits forecast for the year. Its shares fell 23.8% over the week. Caterpillar fell 9.4%. In materials, steel stocks were shunned as Goldman Sachs issued a bearish outlook on the sector in a wide-ranging note. US Steel fell 14.6%. AK Steel declined 22.8%. The technology sector took more blows on Friday after Nokia warned on its market share outlook. Jabil Circuit and Adobe Systems lost 5.4% and 3% respectively.
The FTSE 100 had lost 2.3% by the close. The benchmark lost 7% for the week, and was just 90 points above the 2-year closing low reached in July. Over the week, the FTSE 350’s mining index fell 18%, the biggest weekly fall since 1987, while oil and gas was down 9.4%. Metals companies bore the brunt of heavy selling on Friday as the London market lurched to its worst weekly performance in more than six years. Fears of slowing global economic growth sank the wider resources sector, with Kazakhmys off 8.2% and ENRC down 7.6%. Lonmin sank 4.2% on talk that Xstrata had rejected an offer to buy a block of shares in the platinum miner at stg33 apiece – the same price as its hostile bid. Earlier this week, people familiar with the situation were playing down the chances of Xstrata increasing its offer.
Overall, the Nikkei 225 average finished down by 2.8% lower at a six-month closing low of 12,212.23 and the broader Topix index ended 2.6% lower at 1,170.84. The Nikkei has lost 20.2% in value so far this year. Banks accounted for nearly one-fifth of the market’s losses. Mizuho Financial fell by 6.3% and Sumitomo Mitsui lost 4.7%. Sony’s decision to recall 438,000 Vaio computers sent its shares to a three-year low on Friday. Investors seemed unconvinced by the company’s attempts to play down the effect on profits, and critics speculated about the damage to Sony’s reputation. Sony shares finished 4.2% lower at Y3,880 in Tokyo – their worst close since November 2005. The company has lost a third in value since the beginning of the year.