Oil rose to a two-week high

Oil rose to a two-week high after the Federal Reserve and five other central banks acted together to boost liquidity and ease the strains of Europe’s debt crisis and as U.S. companies added more workers than projected.

Futures climbed as much as 2 percent as the central banks of the U.S., the euro region, Canada, the U.K., Japan and Switzerland cut the cost of emergency funding for European banks. U.S. companies added 206,000 jobs this month, the most this year, ADP Employer Services said today.

The central banks reduced the cost of providing dollar funding via swap arrangements. The move is aimed at easing strains in markets and boosting their capacity to support the global financial system, according to a Fed statement in Washington.

ADP, based in Roseland, New Jersey, was projected to report an advance of 130,000 jobs, according to the median of responses from economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Futures briefly pared gains after the Energy Department reported U.S. oil supplies rose 3.93 million barrels to 334.7 million in the week ended Nov. 25. Inventories were forecast to rise 50,000 barrels, according to the median of 12 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

Crude oil for January delivery rose to $101.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before the report. Futures have gained 11 percent this year.

Brent oil for January settlement increased 43 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $111.25 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.