Oil retreats after weak US economic data

Oil retreated on Thursday, after an early bounce, pressured by bearish data on the economy in top energy consumer the United States.
U.S. light crude for September was down $2.32 at $124.45 a barrel by 1408 GMT, after a jump of $4.58 on Wednesday.
London Brent crude was $2.95 down at $124.15 a barrel.
An unexpected jump in U.S. weekly jobless claims put pressure on the U.S. dollar, which briefly caused oil to make further gains on Thursday, but these proved short-lived.
Oil has tended to rise when the dollar falls and vice versa, but this pattern has shown signs of breaking down recently.
U.S. gross domestic product grew at a 1.9 percent annual rate in the second quarter, lower than expected, which added to concerns over the health of the U.S. economy..
Oil had rallied strongly on Wednesday after a surprise fall in gasoline stocks last week in the United States.
This followed a fall of about 18 percent from the market's record peak above $147 on July 11, partly due to concerns over demand erosion, especially in the United States.
This was the biggest drop on record in dollar terms.
"There was a gasoline-led rally, but now I think it's running out of puff. It seems to need constant bullish news at the moment to push it up," said Christopher Bellew, of Bache Commodities. "Everyone is talking about demand destruction."