Oil futures settle at lowest in a week

MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures closed lower on Monday as a drop in a U.S. manufacturing gauge and concerns over emerging markets pressured prices to their lowest settlement in a week. March crude fell $1.06, or 1.1%, to settle at $96.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Since the ISM is citing extreme weather for the huge miss of analyst estimates, we can expect energy traders and investors alike to be even more interested in Friday s jobs report as they look for a better read on the condition of the economic recovery, said Tyler Richey, an analyst for the 7:00 s Report, which offers daily markets commentary. March natural gas fell nearly 4 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $4.905 per million British thermal units after a 1.4% decline on Friday.Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.