NYMEX-Crude slides on economic recovery concerns

* Global equities, oil futures weighed by economic concern

* Dollar strengthens on risk aversion, recovery worry

NEW YORK, July 6 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures fell on Monday as economic concerns reflected in dismal employment numbers, tepid demand and rising fuel inventories kept pressure on crude oil futures.

"The sharp price plunge of last Thursday has gathered steam within the Friday and overnight electronic trades as the stock market has slipped further while the U.S. dollar has strengthened," Jim Ritterbusch, president at Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois, said in a report.

"As a result, large speculative players are in process of exiting the long side of both crude and products," Ritterbusch said.

The yen and the dollar gained broadly on eroding optimism about an improvement in the global economy, dragging equities lower and prompting investors to shun risk. [ID:nN06250989] Job losses in the United States and in Europe have brought the tenuousness of economic recovery prospects and the impact of joblessness on demand back in focus.

Last week the Labor Department said U.S. employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, the highest level since August 1983. [ID:nN01210643]

Second thoughts about the U.S. economy's ability to recover quickly hit global stocks on Monday. [MKTS/GLOB]

Wall Street opened weaker. [.N]

Markets await a Group of Eight summit on July 8-10.

Nigeria's main militant group said Monday it had sabotaged a Chevron (CVX.N) oil facility and seized a chemical tanker and six crew members. [ID:nL627910]

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said it attacked Chevron's facility on Sunday, hours after it sabotaged a Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) operated oil well.

PRICES

* On the New York Mercantile Exchange, at 9:35 a.m. EDT (1335 GMT), August crude CLQ9 was down $2.80, or 4.2 percent, at $63.93 a barrel, trading from $63.40 to $67.17.

Last Tuesday's $73.38 peak was the highest intraday front-month crude oil price since crude hit $75.69 on Oct. 21.

* In London, August Brent crude LCOQ9 fell $1.84, or 2.8 percent, at $63.77 a barrel, trading from $63.26 to $65.46.