Oil Price Drop To Below $100 A Barrel

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are falling after a four-day surge, as traders await a key U.S. jobs report.

Benchmark crude fell 85 to $99.51 per barrel on Thursday in New York. Brent crude fell $1.62 to $108.36 in London.

Prices had risen every trading day since Thanksgiving. They were boosted by tension over Iran's nuclear program and an effort by the Fed and central banks of other nations to increase the flow of dollars to foreign banks.

Now traders are awaiting the November unemployment report, to be released Friday by the Labor Department. High unemployment has been a drag on the economy and has kept demand for oil and gas weak.

At the pump, retail gasoline prices slipped by less than a penny to a national average of $3.292 per gallon.