Oil prices fall as world growth outlook dims

• World Bank cuts growth outlook for China to 7.7% from 8.2%
• Price volatility, with daily swings of 4% up or down, is worse than usual
• Oil traders also worry about Middle East supply disruptions amid Syrian violence

A string of indicators that the global economy is struggling to escape its mire kept oil prices on their down trend Monday.

As U.S. markets opened Monday, benchmark crude for November delivery was down 88 cents, 1%, to $89 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In earlier trading in Europe, the price had dipped as low as $88.25 before recovering somewhat as trading opened in the U.S.

Behind Monday's decline was a new sign of a weak global economy. The World Bank cut the growth outlook for developing Asia-Pacific economies for 2012 to 7.2% from its May forecast of 7.6%.

The bank cited weak global demand due to the lackluster U.S. recovery and Europe's recession. The bank also cut its forecast for China, the region's biggest economy, to 7.7% from May's 8.2%.

Oil traders are accustomed to volatility in this economic-essential commodity. But volatility has been unusually intense amid more-than-the-usual uncertainty about economic and political situations in several parts of the world. And when prices jump, it shows up rapidly in higher prices at the gas pump.

The price of crude oil jumped 4% Thursday following a 4% decline on Wednesday. Traders have been trying to gauge the strength of global oil demand while also watching developments surrounding Syria for any signs of a disruption in supplies from the Middle East.

Oil fell more than 2% Friday as traders fret that jobs aren't growing fast enough in the U.S. to significantly boost demand for fuel. The contract closed down $1.83 to $89.88 per barrel.

In London, Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, was down 91 cents to $111.11 a barrel.

The widening spread between the Nymex and Brent contracts, now above $22, was attributed to higher U.S. output and supply risks in Europe and the Middle East.

Analysts at Commerzbank in Frankfurt said U.S. oil production was at its highest level since December 1996, while concerns about the spread of the Syrian conflict to neighboring countries and delays in shipments of North Sea oil were keeping a floor under Brent prices.

The U.S. economy created 114,000 jobs in September, in line with what economists had expected but not an indication of strong jobs growth. The Labor Department said the unemployment rate fell to 7.8%, the first time it's been below 8 percent in nearly four years.