 |
Louisiana Light • 2 days | 87.12 | +0.03 | +0.03% | ||
|
Bonny Light • 23 hours | 88.87 | +0.67 | +0.76% | ||
|
Opec Basket • 2 days | 86.51 | -1.01 | -1.15% | ||
|
Mars US • 172 days | 77.26 | -1.51 | -1.92% | ||
|
Gasoline • 1 hour | 2.721 | -0.005 | -0.17% |
|
Bonny Light • 23 hours | 88.87 | +0.67 | +0.76% | ||
|
Girassol • 23 hours | 89.45 | +0.81 | +0.91% | ||
|
Opec Basket • 2 days | 86.51 | -1.01 | -1.15% |
|
Peace Sour • 22 hours | 75.10 | -0.32 | -0.42% | ||
|
Light Sour Blend • 22 hours | 78.15 | -0.32 | -0.41% | ||
|
Syncrude Sweet Premium • 22 hours | 85.10 | -0.32 | -0.37% | ||
|
Central Alberta • 22 hours | 75.50 | -0.32 | -0.42% |
|
Eagle Ford • 2 days | 79.33 | -0.29 | -0.36% | ||
|
Oklahoma Sweet • 5 days | 79.75 | +0.50 | +0.63% | ||
|
Kansas Common • 2 days | 73.00 | -0.50 | -0.68% | ||
|
Buena Vista • 5 days | 87.31 | +0.41 | +0.47% |
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Oil Prices Crash After Perky Jobs Data
Crude oil prices fell on Friday afternoon following reports of strong U.S. jobs data, with WTI crashing by more than 2.5% to $73.88
The U.S. January jobs report indicates that the jobs market is stronger than expected, with employers adding 517,000 in January. This compares to economists that had expected employers had added 185,000 jobs in January.
The unemployment rate in the United States is at 3.4%--the lowest rate since 1969, despite the round of tech layoffs.
The Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes are not slowing hiring as some would have expected, with fears lingering that this could still lead to a recession. Still, wage growth seemed to slow.
With the ever-looming recession still looming, traders were slow to respond to Friday’s job data. WTI rose $0.55 per barrel to $76.43 (+0.72%) following the report, while Brent rose $0.46 to $82.63 (+0.56%). But prices quickly took a turn for the worse, with WTI falling $2 per barrel by 1:13 pm ET to $73.88 (-2.64%) per barrel. Brent had fallen by nearly the same amount to $80.21 (-2.39%) per barrel.
Both the WTI and Brent benchmarks are set for a sharp weekly decline.
Both benchmarks have slumped about $7 per barrel so far this week, despite signs that China’s crude oil demand could be recovering and the EU’s ban on Russian crude oil product imports, which goes into effect this Sunday.
Oil prices had already fallen earlier in the week as the United States Energy Information Administration data showed major builds in crude oil and crude products inventories, OPEC stuck to its guns and decided there wouldn’t be any changes to its output strategies at this time, and the Federal Reserve raised its target interest rate—and promised to continue those increases.
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By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger
Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group.
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Open57.81
Trading Vol.6.96M
Previous Vol.241.7B
Long US Treasuries strong buy.
Nothing wrong with select CDs right now as well.
Silver suddenly on sale again so no interest in gold at the moment or going forward.
So how could prices fall after such good data? There could be another reason for the fall and this reason is definitely not the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showing major builds in crude oil and crude products inventories. How could the EIA data have stronger impact on prices than rising employment in the United States?
The real reason is, in my opinion, most probably profit taking by global oil traders. The oil prices are headed for a huge surge based on the current fundamentals in the global oil market.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Global Energy Expert