Oil Futures Settle With a Weekly Loss Of Nearly 5%

Oil futures settled lower Friday, down 4.8% on the week, pressured by a weekly rise in the number of active U.S. oil rigs and worries about a slowdown in energy demand spurred by losses in Chinese and U.S. stock markets. Oct. crude dropped 87 cents, or 2.1%, to settle at $40.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices based on the most-active contracts have now fallen for 8 weeks in a row, their longest weekly losing streak since 1986, according to FactSet data. Gasoline futures, meanwhile, turned higher following news of fire at a refinery in Delaware. Sept. gasoline added a penny to settle at $1.545 a gallon, but it was still down 8.4% for the week.