Oil fell after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the economy is at risk from Europe’s debt crisis and the prospect of fiscal tightening, tempering optimism over a cut in Chinese interest rates.

Futures slipped as Bernanke refrained from discussing steps the Fed might take to boost growth in testimony before Congress today. Crude rose as much as 2.4 percent earlier when the People’s Bank of China said that the benchmark one-year deposit rate will drop by 0.25 percentage point starting tomorrow.

Crude oil for July delivery dropped 29 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $84.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract touched $87.03, the highest intraday price since May 31. Futures are down 14 percent this year.

Brent oil for July settlement declined 70 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $99.94 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Gold prices have gone down to the lack of background in a speech by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, speaking in Congress, the controller signals the intention to take additional measures to stimulate the economy.
According to Bernanke, European debt crisis has increased markedly over the past two months, and the situation in the U.S. labor market and real estate remains difficult. The Fed has several tools to support the economy, which the controller is ready to apply in the event of further deterioration of the situation, but so far no concrete steps are not official announced. Investors continue to expect the outcome of the Fed meeting to be held later in June.
Earlier Thursday, investors win back the message to the U.S. Labor weekly number of applications for unemployment, which fell by 12,000 to 377,000, while analysts expected a decrease in the number of applications only three thousand.
In addition, markets with perceived positive solution of the Central Bank of China for the first time since 2008 to lower interest rates on deposits and loans for 1 year by 0.25 percentage points - to 3.25% from 3.5% to 6.31% from 6.56 %, respectively.
June gold futures on the COMEX fell to 1582.0 dollars per ounce. Earlier Thursday, precious metals rose in price up to 1627.20 dollars per ounce.

Change % Change Last

Gold 1,618 +4 +0.27%

Oil 84.07 +0.09 +0.11%