Oil prices rise on US job numbers
Oil prices pushed higher Friday on US job creation numbers.
NEW YORK (AFP) - Oil prices pushed higher Friday, sustaining a week-long climb broken momentarily by a short-lived drop after US job creation numbers for May came in at a moderate 175,000.
The Labor Department data, which also put the US jobless rate slightly higher at 7.6 percent, was better than expected but traders in both London and New York sold off crude, with prices losing more than $1 a barrel, for the first half-hour after the release.
The rebound was even faster, taking WTI crude for July delivery, the US benchmark, to $96.03 a barrel, up $1.27 for the day and $4.06, or 4.4 percent, for the week.
In London Brent crude for July finished at $104.56 a barrel, up 95 cents from Thursday and $4.17 from a week earlier.
Even if the jobs numbers were only middling, the positive reaction in US share markets to the jobs data, with the S&P 500 adding more than one percent, spilled over to oil, said Tim Evans of Citi Futures.
Oil markets were "taking the equity market's word for it that the 175,000 new jobs added to US non-farm payrolls was both strong enough to inspire some confidence in the underlying economy but not strong enough to allow the Fed to cut back on asset purchases," which would tighten interest rates, he said.
Even so, the upside is limited, because -- even if they fell sharply this week -- US commercial stocks remain strong going into the summer.
"Inventories remain quite high and so we see limited potential for a sustained advance," he said.
