Oil prices continued falling on Friday as the U.S. annual job losses hit a record high since World War II.

The Labor Department said employers slashed 524,000 jobs in December and 2.6 million jobs for all of 2008. It was the worst annual loss since 2.8 million jobs were lost in 1945. The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 percent, the highest since 1993.

Deutsche Bank lowered its forecast for oil prices to 45 dollars from 55 dollars for the first quarter and reduced its annual average oil price for 2009 to 45 dollars from 47.50 dollars.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell 87 cents to settle at 40.83 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after declining to as low as 39.38 dollars.

In London, February Brent crude fell 25 cents to settle at 44. 42 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2009)