OIL & GAS MARKET WRAP

The Oil and Gas wrap provides the latest oil prices from commodity exchanges in New York and London, gives a summary of the main corporate and macroeconomic news impacting the price of oil, a barometer of the strength of global economy.

Pdf
Friday, February 03, 2012

Oil prices jump on US jobs data

Oil prices jump on US jobs data

Oil prices surged after today’s non-farm payrolls report from the Department of Labor came in well ahead of forecasts. Expectations were for a gain of up to 150,000, but the figures showed the US economy created 243,000 jobs in January, posting the biggest monthly increase since April.

In addition, the unemployment rate surprisingly dropped from 8.5 percent in December to 8.3 percent last month.

The employment report was seen as another sign that the economic recovery in the world’s largest energy consumer is gaining momentum, helping the markets shrug off Wednesday’s bearish inventories data.

The Department of Energy said oil stockpiles in the US added a massive 4.2 million barrels as crude demand from refineries fell.

Updates on factory orders and the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) non-manufacturing index that were released later in the session provided more support for crude futures.

The ISM report said business activity in the services sector in the US expanded at a faster pace in January than in the previous month with its gauge climbing from an upwardly revised 53 in December to 56.8.

Likewise, the factory orders data also surprised on the upside, showing a 1.1 percent improvement in December from November, taking the annual improvement to 12.6 percent from 2010.

US light, sweet crude for March delivery, currently the most actively traded contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), rose 62 cents to US$96.98/barrel in morning trade in New York.

March Brent crude tacked on US$1.18 to trade at 113.41/barrel on the ICE Exchange this afternoon.

Today’s top risers in the oil and gas sector were:

Caza Oil & Gas (LON:CAZA), up 15.5 percent at 12.44 pence at midday

Silvermere Energy (LON:SLME), up 9.5 percent at 15.9 pence

Amerisur Resources (LON:AMER), up 6 percent at 20.42 pence

Ohpir Energy (LON:OPHR), up 6 percent at 317.8 pence

Madagascar Energy (LON:MOIL), 5.5 percent at 26.94 pence

The top fallers were:

Gold Oil (LON:GOO), down 5 percent at 2.42 pence at midday

Woburn Energy (LON:WBN), down 5 percent at 1.78 pence

Sefton Resources (LON:SER), down 3.5 percent at 2.25 pence

Frontera Resources (LON:FRR), down 3 percent at 1.09 pence

Pantheon Resources (LON:PANR), down 2.5 percent at 10.35 pence


Register here to be notified of future articles.
Pdf
Crude Oil
Latest price: 123.5 (0%)
52-week high: 126.34
52-week low: 69.06
Crude Oil - 1 year chart Crude Oil - 1 year chart
Crude Oil - 1 day chart Crude Oil - 1 day chart

No investment advice

The Company is a publisher and is not registered with or authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). You understand and agree that no content published on the Site constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable or advisable for any specific person. You further understand that none of the information providers or their affiliates will advise you personally concerning the nature, potential, advisability, value or suitability of any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, investment strategy, or other matter.

You understand that the Site may contain opinions from time to time with regard to securities mentioned in other products, including company related products, and that those opinions may be different from those obtained by using another product related to the Company. You understand and agree that contributors may write about securities in which they or their firms have a position, and that they may trade such securities for their own account. In cases where the position is held at the time of publication and such position is known to the Company, appropriate disclosure is made. However, you understand and agree that at the time of any transaction that you make, one or more contributors may have a position in the securities written about. You understand that price and other data is supplied by sources believed to be reliable, that the calculations herein are made using such data, and that neither such data nor such calculations are guaranteed by these sources, the Company, the information providers or any other person or entity, and may not be complete or accurate.

From time to time, reference may be made in our marketing materials to prior articles and opinions we have published. These references may be selective, may reference only a portion of an article or recommendation, and are likely not to be current. As markets change continuously, previously published information and data may not be current and should not be relied upon.