UPDATE 8-Oil ends little changed after touching near two-month lows

* U.S. services sector growth weakest in 3 years -ISM
* U.S.-China trade talks could lend support -analyst
* Oil trading below its level before Sept. 14 Saudi attack

(Updates with settlement prices)
By Jessica Resnick-Ault
NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures were slightly
lower on Thursday, drawing some support from the stock market
after earlier touching nearly two-month lows on weak economic
data.
U.S. crude CLc1 settled at $52.45 a barrel, down 19 cents.
Global benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 settled up 2 cents at
$57.71 a barrel.
During the session, both benchmarks tumbled to the lowest
level seen since early August, plunging as weak U.S. economic
figures were released.
U.S. services sector growth slowed to its most anemic pace
in three years last month, and job growth in the largest slice
of the American economy was the weakest in half a decade, a
survey of purchasing managers showed. Even as U.S. crude pared losses late in the day, crude
futures have found lower lows in each of the last eight
sessions, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho
in New York.
"From both a supply and demand situation it seems to be a
problem: storage is the supply side, economic data is the demand
side and they're both on the wrong side of the letter," Yawger
said.
Across the Atlantic, economic data has also put pressure on
crude. Euro zone business growth stalled in September, a survey
on Thursday showed. Lending oil some support were hopes that the United States
and China might make progress in resolving their trade dispute
and figures showing output in the United States - which has been
the fastest source of supply growth - fell in July. "Next week U.S.-China trade talks remain the unknown
variable which could lend a modicum of support," said Stephen
Innes, market strategist at AxiTrader. The talks are set to
resume on Oct. 10. This year, Brent has risen about 7%, supported by supply
cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries and allies including Russia, plus involuntary outages
such as a drop in Iranian and Venezuelan exports due to U.S.
sanctions.
Nonetheless, concern about the worsening economic outlook
has overshadowed support from the supply side and the prospect
of further output disruption in the Middle East appears of
limited concern to investors.
Brent spiked to $72 a barrel on Sept. 16 following attacks
on Saudi Arabia's oil installations that shut more than half of
the country's output. But both oil benchmarks are now below
their pre-attack levels after the Saudi authorities resumed
output.
"Crude oil does not want to price a geopolitical premium,"
said Olivier Jakob, analyst at Petromatrix. "With the lack of
strong economic data, it is difficult to develop a bullish
theme."