Oil: an overview of the market situation

Crude oil futures rose today as a report published today by the U.S. unemployment raised hopes that on Friday the monthly employment data in the U.S. will mean an improvement in economic conditions in the largest oil consumer in the world.

As it became known, the number of Americans who have applied for the first time for unemployment benefits decreased last week, though, according to the more long-term data, progress in the labor market remains slow. The Labor Department said that the number of jobless claims in the U.S. fell by 11,000, seasonally adjusted, reaching 346,000 in the week ended June 1. This figure is close to the predicted by economists at 345000. Reducing the number of applications is a sign that the labor market continues to steadily recover. However, the data on applications may vary, but a more significant indicator of increased layoffs last week. The four-week moving average, which smooths out the volatility of weekly data, rose by 4,500 to 352,500. These figures show that progress in the labor market is not stable, as the U.S. economy continues to recover in fits and starts. Accelerated the pace of hiring in the beginning of the year, but recent data reports indicate that employers could increase the number of jobs is less active. The number of requests for unemployment benefits increased by five-year lows, which were installed a month ago.

Recall that on Wednesday, the Department of Energy said that crude oil inventories in the U.S. fell by 6.3 million barrels for the week ending May 31, thanks to a sharp drop in imports. Analysts had forecast a drop of 1 million barrels. Separately, the American Petroleum Institute said inventories fell by 464,000 to 387.3 million barrels.

Experts point out that the oil prices are expected to remain within a narrow range at the moment, as ample supplies and demand remains a deterrent global economic recovery.

The cost of the July futures on U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) rose to 94.90 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

July futures price for North Sea Brent crude oil mixture rose $ 0.79 to $ 103.71 a barrel on the London exchange ICE Futures Europe.