Oil Prices Fell Back To $74 A Barrel.

Crude oil futures fell below $74 a barrel on Friday, so the news that a former credit rating agency downgraded Spain's sovereign debt helped push the dollar stronger.

The New York Mercantile Exchange's July light crude oil contract settlement price fell 58 cents to $73.97 a barrel, or 0.8%.

Prior to Fitch Ratings (Fitch)

Ratings) downgraded Spain's debt rating from "AAA" to "AA+".

ICE futures exchange Brent crude oil futures contract settlement price fell 64 cents, to $74.02 a barrel, or 0.9%.

The euro fell to $1.2288 against the US dollar, and the exchange rate was $1.2370 before the downgrade news came out.

Although oil prices rose 5.6% this week, it fell more than US $12 in May, or 14%, the biggest percentage decline in 18 months ago.

Crude oil futures, after the announcement of US consumer spending data, took off overnight gains and fell below the previous closing level. The US Department of Commerce (Commerce)

Department) released data show that consumer spending was flat in April, while economists had expected an increase of 0.1%.

However, crude oil futures rebounded again in the latter part of the market, due to Reuters / University of Michigan (Reuters/University

Of Michigan's consumer confidence index rose to 73.6 in May, and economists had expected it to be 73.3.

The crude oil futures contract for delivery in the near future expired on Friday.

In June, the RBOB gasoline futures contract settlement price fell 1.91 cents to 2.0198 dollars per gallon, or 0.9%.

June heating oil futures contract settlement price fell 1.92 cents to 1.9802 U.S. dollars per gallon, or 1%.