Oil falls after jobs report

By Ben Rooney
CNNMoney.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Oil prices fell Friday after a government report showing significant job losses added to concerns about weaker demand in an ailing economy.

U.S. crude for February delivery fell 87 cents to settle at $40.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price fell below $40 a barrel immediately after the jobs report, but rebounded by day's end.

Retail gas prices rose for the 10th day in a row, edging up 2 cents overnight to a national average of $1.782 a gallon.

The government said Friday that 524,000 jobs were lost in December, bringing the total for 2008 to just below 2.6 million. That makes 2008 the worst year for job losses since 1945, when 2.75 million jobs were lost as the nation's industrial production geared down from World War II. The December unemployment rate surged to 7.2 percent.