Crude oil is trading slightly lower on Friday, as sentiment turns cautious ahead of the key non-farm payrolls data in the U.S. that could darken the outlook for oil demand from the world’s biggest consumer.
However, crude managed to retain most of Thursday’s gains when investors cheered the new measures by the Chinese central bank, the better-than-expected jobless claims report and the ECB cut in key interest rate.
- Crude oil is trading around the $93.80 a barrel level compared with the opening at $93.92, while the highest is at $94.07 and the lowest is at $93.64.
- Brent is trading around $102.66 a barrel after falling 0.18% or $0.19.
Crude jumped around 3% overnight in its biggest single-day rally in almost six months, as the ECB’s decision to cut the rate to a record low at 0.5% came only a day after the Federal Reserve recommitted to its aggressive stimulus program.
Moreover, oil prices found support from the U.S. jobless claims which dropped sharply to a five-year low, pushing the S&P 500 to a fresh intraday high while the People`s Bank of China unveiled new measures that would open up its capital markets.
Yet the weak manufacturing activity in the United States and China is still clouding the outlook for oil demand from the top two consumers.
- Natural gas is trading at $4.005 per cubic feet, after falling 0.50%
- Gasoline is trading at $2.7773 a gallon, after rising 0.12%
- Heating oil is trading at $2.8509 a gallon, after rising 0.16%