Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday after data showed China’s services sector activity remained well within growth territory in April, and the U.S. economy saw a bigger than expected addition in U.S. non-farm payrolls in April.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $2.78 or about 4.1% at $71.34 a barrel.
Brent crude futures gained $2.69 or about 3.9% to $75.30 a barrel.
WTI crude futures and Brent crude shed over 7% and 5%, respectively, in the week.
“Oil has found a bottom as risk appetite improves as banking turmoil eases and after employment reports from North America showed significant jobs strength and defied calls of a looming economic slowdown,” says Edward Moya, Senior Market Analyst at OANDA.
Moya says that WTI crude has formed a clear bottom after falling $19.74 from the April 12th high. “WTI crude seems like it is ready to find a home comfortably above the $70 level, but oversupply fears for now should cap any rallies that get close to the $75 region,” he adds.
Data from the Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment shot up by 253,000 jobs in April compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 179,000 jobs.
However, the job growth in February and March was downwardly revised to 248,000 jobs and 165,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a combined downward revision of 149,000 jobs.
The report also said the unemployment rate edged down to 3.4% in April from 3.5% in March. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.
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