Oil lingers below $70 as traders eye earnings

       Oil prices lingered below $70 a barrel yesterday in Asia as investors looked to third quarter company earnings reports this week for clues about the health of the US economy.
       Benchmar k crude for November deliver was down 20 cents at $69.75 by late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 87 cents to settle at $69.95 on Friday.
       Last week, weak economic data w eighed on crude prices. The US reported worse than expected manufacturing and jobs numbers, with the unemployment rate rising to 9.8% in September, the highest since 1983.
       US oil inventory data was mixed last week, suggesting consumer demand has yet to rebound strongly from the recession.
       "Economic and oil data remain consistent with a macro economy just beginning to push off the trough, leaving markets with a lack of clear direction," Goldman Sachs said in a report.
       Traders will be eyeing the first earnings for the July to September period,with Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc, PepsiCo Inc and Marriott International Inc scheduled to report this week.
       In other Nymex trading, heating oil fell 1.04 cents to $1.79 a gallon. Gasoline for November delivery held at $1.74 a gallon.Natural gas for November deli-very dropped 3.6 cents to $4.68 per 1,000 cubic feet.
       In London, Brent crude fell 25 cents to $67.82 on the ICE Futures exchange.
       "A slew of economic data (last week)rekindled worries over the prospects of a recovery in the United States,' said JBC Energy analysts in a note to clients.
       Data released Friday showed the US economy was struggling to recover from re cession as job losses accelerated to 263,000, sending the unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9.8% in September.
       Payroll losses were far worse than expectations for a loss of 175,000 jobs,while there was an upwardly revised loss of 201,000 in August.
       Payrolls have dropped for 21 consecutive months and since the start of the re cession, the number of jobless has increased 7.6 million to 15.1 million,while unemployment has doubled to 9.8%, Labour Department figures show.
       "There are ongoing worries about the pace of economic recovery after the disappointing US jobs data,' added Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz.
       "At the top of traders' minds now is the pace of economic recovery and the US economic situation still looks shaky,"he said.