Crude-oil futures climbed on Friday, 06 February 2015 at Nymex to score a 7.2% gain for the week, finding support from an upbeat U.S. jobs report and a drop in the number of active drilling rigs.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March settled at $51.69 a barrel, up $1.21, or 2.4%, for the session.
Economic data on Friday was limited to Nonfarm Payrolls and Consumer Credit. Nonfarm payrolls added 257,000 new jobs in January after adding an upwardly revised 329,000 (from 252,000) in December while the consensus expected a reading of 235,000. Private payrolls increased by 267,000 in January, down from an upwardly revised 320,000 (from 240,000) in December while the consensus an increase of 225,000. The decline in the average hourly wage in December (-0.2%) was more than offset by a surge in wage growth (0.5%) in January, which easily topped the consensus forecast of a 0.3% gain. However, the sustainability of this growth remains in question considering 20 states raised their minimum wage in January.
The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7% in January from 5.6% in December as a result of an uptick in the labor force participation rate.
Consumer credit increased by $14.80 billion in December, up from a downwardly revised $13.50 billion in November while the consensus expected an increase of $15.00 billion.
Among other energy products, reformulated gasoline blendstock for March the benchmark gasoline contract — rose 2.3% to $1.559 a gallon, ending 5.4% higher for the week. March heating oil settled at $1.84, up 1.8% for the session to score a weekly gain of 8.1%.
March natural gas fell by 0.8% to $2.58 per million British thermal units, set to log a loss of 4.2% for the week.